History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians

HISTORY

OF THE

( ' fi

a *

BY

H B, CUSHMAN,

Copyright, 1899, by H. B. Cushman

(All rights reserved.)

GREENVILLK, TEXAS:

HEADLIGHT PRINTING HOUSE

1899.

To the memory of my parents, Calvin and Laura Cush-
man, as Heralds of the Cross of Christ, they, with a few
other congenial spirits, left their homes in Massachusetts,
A. D. 1820, as missionaries, and went to the Choctaw Indian*,
then living- in their Ancient Domains east of the Missisipr.i
River. 'Devoted their lives to the moral and intellectual
improvement and spiritual interests of that peculiar and in
teresting race of mankind, living- and dying- the sincere and
abiding friends of. the Red Man of the North American Con
tinent.

.i1

ALSO

To the Choctaw and Chickasaw people, each the novv-
feeble remnant of a once numerous, independent, contented
and happy people, whose long line of ancestry dates back to
the pre-historic ages of the remote past, it is ascribed in
loving remembrance of the writer's earliest and most faith
ful friends, whom he has a just cause to cherish for their
many long known and tested virtues.

£<?
Cs

Iii compliance with current copyright

law, U. C. Library Bindery produced

this replacement volume on paper

that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-

1984 to replace the irreparably

deteriorated original.

1993

INTRODUCTION.

To bring one's material to a strictly historical and clas
sified order is almost an impossibility when dealing" with a
.subject so diversified as that of the Red Race of the North
American Continent. But I have sought, found and brought
together an amount of information concerning that pecu
liar people that has never before been published; having
been born of parents who were missionaries to the Choc-
taws in 1820, and having been reared among them and in
timately acquainted with them during the vicissitudes of a
life extending to nearly four score of years. I well know
ihat the Indian race has oft been the subject of the pen, and
still continues to be, but only in short details, thus leaying
vthe reader in bewilderment, though historical truths were to
be found in abundance among them wherever one turned —
truths one can never forget; scenes and events which have an
imperishable memory.

Then come awhile with me, reader, from what you have
hitherto learned about the Red Man of this continent, to that
which may be entirely ;new to you no matter how old it may.
be to others; 'since you might learn something more of the
primitive influences which shaped the career of the North
American Indians in their dealings with the White Race from
their first acquaintance to the present day; as I have endeav
ored to present many based upon knowledge acquired by a
personal acquaintance with two tribes (closely allied) dur
ing a protracted life of many years, seeing and learning the
romance and poetry of their natures, a people of interest,
moral worth and individuality of character. I know that to
all my race, the Indian (comparatively speaking) lives only in
the vague memory of the legendary past — that period made
vivid by the wrongs of the White Race perpetrated upon the
Red — all a series of struggles terminating in sanguinary
executions when no services rendered by the tribe in their
vain struggle to be free, availed to save the defeated Chieftain
from a felon's grave; while the feeble remnant that still sur
vives stands as the best commentary of their wrongs, while
they despairingly cry ''kill us also, and thus complete your
cruelty by taking our lives as you began with our liberties."

Truly, wrhat a sad and melancholy record is their his
tory; undervalued by the civilized world, though in op
position to the declarations of all who knew them as justice
demanded they should be known. Alas, broken-hearted for

INTRODUCTON.

two centuries, yet having their souls pierced and lacerated
by the poisonous shafts of unj.ust defamation and cruel false
hood, while they sadly ask in lamentations of woe: "Where
is to 'be the end!'? Only to hear echo's fearful response,
"Thegrave." Therefore they seem indifferentnowasto what
the world is doing- around them, since none extend the hand
of friendship to them but to defraud; none smile on their dejec
ted faces but to deride; none sympathize with them in their
poverty but to mock; and now when you meet them, they
neither look to the right nor left, but straight forward walking
with slow and measured steps that betoken the thoughts of
a helpless and hopeless people— hopeless, at least, of all that
life may bring- them of freedom and prosperity. Few even
speak to them in tones of kindness, yet all momentarily stop
to gaze on them with wondering- stare as if they were cum-
berers of the ground, though there is still upon their faces
of despair a visible touch of lingering chivalry worthy of a
better fate'. \

With many of their illustrious men (long- deceased)
whom I have broug-ht into this history, I \vas personally ac
quainted throug-h the vicissitudes of many years; \vith others,
though not personally, yet I knew their minds and the
motives of their actions, and these truly constitute the man.
.And they were men whose hig-h endowments (nature's gift)
could not be misled into selfish ambition; nor prosperity in
flate; nor disappointment depress from holy trust and honor
able action known by the veritable touch-stone, "Ye shall
know a tree by its fruits." Nor have I sketched a virtue
that I have not seen, nor painted a folly from imagination;
but have endeavored to be faithful to reality, in all thing's as
touching- that peculiar yet noble race of the human family,
who sought resignation in all their misfortunes and woes,
and found it only in the decrees of the "Great Spirit" who
had given to their race so many centuries of uninterrupted
bliss, truly a noble people who taught misfortune dignity.
They had never left their secluded and quiet homes amid
nature's forest groves to expose themselves to the contami
nations of the vices (to them unknown) of the civilized (so-
called) world of traffic and trade.

Sequestered from its view, neither its pageants nor its
follies had ever reached them there. It was then and
there I studied their unsophisticated natures with an enthu
siasm which is the fragrance .of the flower that lives after
the bloom is withered. Nor am I ashamed to confess my
profound admiration of the North American Indian, to whom
there was nothing so dear as Kis freedom unrestrained,
which he proved beyond all dispute by fearlessly resisting

INTRODUCTION. 5

the hand of tyrannical oppressions from the Atlantic coast to
the Pacific, against odds in point of numbers, munitions of
war, skill and means, as one to ten thousand, and yielded
not until the last warrior had fallen, the last bow broken and
his race reduced to absolute poverty, want and woe. Still,
though poor and lowly as he seemed to his venal destroyers,
yet his whole heart and life were wrapt up in the remem
brance of his freedom. He worshipped the thought as his
most precious property, the dear treasure of his secret and
highest bliss. It was the constant companion of his thoughts
the monitor of his actions and the true key to his life.

But alas, when memory now turns to the past of his
early life and its unexpected blighting, and raises before his
mind every hope connected with it, and his seeming present
doom stares him in the face, what can rid him of those suc
cessive images that seem to glide around him like mournful
apparitions of the long lamented dead, since grief long since
has looked up the avenues of complaint, and he stands as one
petrified to stone. But how wonderful, amid all their adver
sities, has been their 'power to rally and to recover their
waning resolution and courage; verily, they oft seemed to
experience a kind gf determined pleasure in resolutely con
fronting the worst aspect of their innumerable reverses;
yea, in standing in the breech that has long since overthrown
their future, and hurling back in defiant despair, "Here we
stand, at least an honest and chivalrous people;" but alas,
only to seek solitude by retiring within themselves pleading
"Jailor, lock the door." Truly their lives, though not with
out their efforts of strong exertion, have been during the
last two centuries, and still are, a dream spent in chewing
the cud of sweet and bitter fancy, while they have worn the
garb of hope which has diverted their past and present woes
by a touch of the wand of imagination and gilded over the
future by prospects fairer than were ever realized. But it is
impossible to deny and yet not to admire and praise the
strong sense of solidity and fraternity which, through all
their lives, still unite the members of the same tribe, and the
feelings which have not been dimmed by modern changes but
still exist as warm and active as- ever; yet the White Race has
ever looked upon the Red from the Ishmaelitish standpoint,
and in all its intercourse, from first to last, began and so
continued by treating them as inferior beings, too low in the
scale of humanity to be reached by the hand of Christianity
and civilization; inveterate and uncompromising enemies to
be circumvented and overreached under an exhibition of
smiling and artful hypocrisy and base venality unknown to
the Red Man and unsurpassed in the annals of the White.

6 INTRODUCTION.

But long* since cut loose from their ancient moorings, they
have felt for more than a century that they were slowly but
surely drifting- toward an unknown destiny foreshadowing-
extermination. What other people that wrould not have had
recourse to war or the suicide's rifle? yet, after despair had
usurped the place of hope in longer resistance, they had
principle to resist the one, and resolution to combat the
other. But they were to tread the lowest paths of sorrow,
poverty and humiliating- depressions; whose circumstances
were too humble to expect redress and whose sufferings
(mental and physical) were too great even for pity^ and
whose wrong's, at the hands of inside white intruders and
outside defamers, have long- since destroyed that streng-th of
mind with which mankind can meet distress; therefore they
prepare to suffer in silence rather than openly complain.
What else could they do? The world disclaims them.
Christianity even seems to have turned its back upon their
distress, given^ them up to spiritual nakedness and hunger,
and left them to plead to white wretches whose hearts are
stone, or to debauchees who may curse but will not give re
lief, while every devilish trick is played upon them, and their
every action made a fund for eternal ridioule.

Truly, instead of wondering that so little of their true
history has been preserved, it is a matter of much gre; ter
wonder that so much of truth has escaped the waste of < two-
centuries through which they have been dragged from p\ace
to place, while all narratives concerning them have l»een
written, with few exceptions, in shameful derogation of their
true characters, all exaggerated and still continuing to be
exaggerated, evincing a strange love of defamation only to
gratify the morbid fondness of their readers for the marve
lous, and their own manifested inability to tell the truth;
therefore the most absurd and ridiculous falsehoods are fabri
cated and published about this people and joyfully read and
believed by all who are in harmony with their traducers, a
truth that remains, in essential points at least, from one end
of the scale to the other.

True, the ways of the Indians are not the ways of the
civilized world of which they knew. nothing; nor were they,
being without its ways, versed in its revolting vices, aiid
their so-called love of war and carnage existed but in the
imagination of the White Race, one of its beliefs which may
be traced hither and thither but never to the propitiation of
truth concerning anything about the Red; since, having its
origin alone in the impatience of its venality while drifting
amid zones of ignorance and prejudice; and when I contem
plate such, I am taught to look upon their errors more in sor-

INTRODUCTION. 7

row than anger. True the Indians were cruel to their ene
mies in war, and so are we together with all the nations of
earth. •

But when I take up dhe North American Indian who has
suffered and represent to myself the struggles he has passed
through for centuries past, to defend his just rights and
sustain the freedom of his country from exotic vandals, and
reflect upon his brief pulsations of joy; the tears of woe; the
feebleness of purpose; the scorn of the world that has, with
out just reason, no charity for him; the desolation of his
soul's sanctuary, his freedom buried in the memory of the
past; happiness gone; hope fled; I fain would leave his blight
ed soul with Him from whose hands it came, for how diffi
cult it is to roll away the black and huge stone of prejudice
from off the white man's heart, to whom ignorance is bliss
in regard to all Indians; thousands, therefore, hate the In
dian because they do not know him and desire not to know
him because they hate him.

Truly, the North American Indians constitute as grand
a record of human courage, patriotic endurance, and as har
rowing a history of human suffering as has ever been told;
while their oppressors and destroyers, who have figured in
their nefarious designs against them from the alpha to omega
as the beau-ideal of cruel injustice, are still laboring with a
zeal never manifested before to intensify the public feeling
against the helpless people, that they may the more effect
ually accomplish their infamous schemes to rob and plunder
them; and whose consciences seem so elastic that, at one
time it seems difficult for them to stretch them over a mole
hill; at another, with ease, they stretch them over a moun
tain. Yet the influence, power and grip these characters
exert and impress upon the public mind are truths both hu
miliating and disgraceful, and the strange liberties that are,
by our seemingly defective systems of jurisprudence, legal
ly permitted to such plunderers in highxplaces who have the
audacity and impertinence to appeal to law, and misuse its
machinery for selfish and covetous purposes, are everywhere
illustrated at the expense of the misguided and alike help
less and unfortunate Indians, upon whom they have descend
ed in countless thousands as blow-flies on a decomposing
body, to rob and plunder them of the last acre of their terri
tories. Truly our sensibilities in the light of humanity, and
our judgment in the light of truth and justice, are abso
lutely dead in regard to this people; therefore, thousands
have supinely yielded to the false assertions of thieves and
robbers, the reverence due to a Divine decree, without any

8 INTRODUCTION.

investigation whatever, which has been done in all cases of
dealing- with Indians from -first to last.

Truly it may be written as an epitaph for their history,,
"unutterably sad, because so disastrously true." Alas! mul
tiplied thousands to-day look with horror on the wrong's and
suffering's of the feeble and helpless Indians still hovering- in
our midst, yet are content to hide themselves from their
woes; yea, they openly acknowledge their shameful reality
yet do nothing to alleviate their condition. They well know
of the thousand wrong's continually being heaped upon them,
yet only shrug- their shoulders and fold their arms in callous
acquiescence in that which they falsely and. cowardly declare
to be inevitable; while they, at the same time, acknowledge a
sense of shame and personal guilt in permitting such infa
mous cruelty and oppression to be heaped upon that help
less race in their midst and under their own eyes, without
being actuated to noble efforts to stop it. No wonder the
Indian's countenance seems prematurely marked by deep
furrows, and his long hair waves over his brow on which is
fixed a deep gloom that no smile from the lips can chase
away! Alas, through what direful changes have they been
forced to pass! througli what cycles of hope and fear have
their generations been coerced while the world about them
seemed like a vision hurrying by as they stood still in
silence, helplessness and woe! Therefore, in their entire
history, how little there is to , contemplate but the most
agonizing struggles followed by the deepest and most osten
sible decay through their long and continued attempts at
redress and the recovery of their God-inherited rights
which expired with their liberty.

HISTORY

OF THE

Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez

INDIANS.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NORTH
AMERICAN INDIANS.

There has been, and is to-day, as great a proportion of
of those characteristics that elevate and adorn mankind
found among" the North American Indian race as ever were
found upon earth. Men and women in whose breasts were
seats of virtues as pure as ever found in man or woman.
This may seem as shadows to many, incontrovertible truths
to those who truly know them, not as enemies but as friends.
Through a long life of personal acquaintance with and ex
perience among- them, I can and do here testify to the
same when living- in their ancient domains, and still find
them in the present years as in those of the long- past,
though my opinions then may have been formed to some ex
tent as shadows in the back-ground of imagination, yet they
took substantial form and substance with time, in perfect
harmony with the positive assertions of all the early ex
plorers, as far back as anything is known of their history.
Truly, prolific fancies of the larger portion of modern
writers seem to have been governed by the many false des
criptions of the ancient; and poetic license has extended the
peculiarities of the ancestors with all their imaginary faults
and none of their virtues to their descendants, this too in the
absence of all authentic history; while our own traditions
have dealt no less unjustly with the remnant whom we are
following down to their seemingly inevitable destiny (exter
mination) so unjustly and cruelly decreed through the insti
gation of our insatiable venality, whose merciless sword is
still drawn and stretched athwart the gate of the Indian's
highest ambition, his freedom; allowing him no place in that

10 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

higher civilization concerning which heaven and earth are
amazed at our continued vociferations, and stupified in our
inconsistency that denies to them their, natural and individ
ual' rights, since it does but establish our inability to compre
hend the eternal principles of human development, as we
assume to fear to trust them with the choice of their own
destiny, and that of their souls, moved and actuated by the
divine principles therein implanted. It could not justly be
expected that they would at once adopt our principles and
institutions, to them a chaos of contradictions. Yet we
charge them with the utter want of those virtues that dis
tinguish man from the brute, though well knowing the
falsity of the accusation by the undeniable testimony mani
fest among them every where to the contrary.

We also charge them with every crime, but how greatly
inconsistent and unjust when being so deeply stained our
selves! Alas, when hope of longer freedom had given place
to hopeless despair, and they as a forlorn hope, threw them
selves upon our boasted humanity, they awoke but to find a
myth; for we then displayed our so-called Christian virtues
and high sounding hallelujahs of .freedom to all mankind by
cooping them up in isolated reservations, but more properly
vestibules of the cemetery, the ante-rooms where the re
cruiting agents of death (woe and despair) assemble their
conscripts to prepare them for the ranks whence there is
neither desertion or discharge; and having thus and there
caged them, now perform the honorable (?) and humane (?)
task of watching them at the doors of their prisons, while
our parasites keep a faithful record of the complaints of the
unfortunate, helpless, hapless and hopeless sufferers,
whose dire misfortunes few have the magnanimity to
respect, while thousands scoff and mock and which they
seem determined shall only cease in the silence of the last
Indian's grave.

Can the Indians of to-day but cherish the greatest ab
horrence toward those who forced them into those lazar-
prisons where curses reply to their just complaints and
blows and kicks to their dying groans, as each is tortured in
his separate hell where all can hear but none will heed? Can
they but shun, in their limited inch of freedom, as a blighting
pestilence, those who still seek to debase them in the estima
tion of the world by falsely branding them as creatures to
be feared and shunned, with no power to resent but only to
weep in silence and hopeless despair, while their blighted
spirits are being proved in this furnace like steel in temper
ing fire ?

Once they were quick in feeling and fearless in resent-

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 11

nent — that is o'er. They are now the sons of silence; their
Abounds of mind and body are now callous, or long- since
they would have dashed their brains against their pris
on bars, as the rays of the sun of their re
membered freedom and happiness flashed through them in
seeming mockery of their woes. Neither are their slumbers
sleep but only a continuance of enduring woes, a lingering
despair whose envenomed tooth preventing truth, justice and
humanity would still mangle the dead. Their hair is gray,
but not from years; 'tis the impatient thirst for freedom par
ching the heart, and abhorred slavery maddening the soul
with heaviness and woe as it battles v^ith its agony under the
knowledge that to them earth and air are banned and barred
— a living grave of long years of oppression, abuse, calumny
and outrage; yet they live, endure and bear the likeness of
breathing men, while they bear the innate tortures of a living
despair, becoming ol(^ in their youth, and dying ere middle
age, some of weariness, some of disease, (the legacy of
their destroyers) but more of withered hopes and broken
hearts. Alas, that they should have found so few among the
White Race with whom they could safely wear the chain of
unassumed friendship and confidence; therefore have shunned
their companionship and sadly sought as long as they could
the solitude of the remote wilderness and there with its more
congenial spirit divided the homage of their hearts, but alas,
only to find even there no secure retreat from their restless
foes. This fatalism, the assured certainly that nothing good
can now be expected; the full conviction that even the United
States government seems indifferent to protect them from
the venality of its own unprincipled and seemingly law defy
ing white subjects, is now deeply rooted in the minds of the
aged Indians; while the younger receive their education in the
high (so-called) schools of the States in learning by heart
Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill,. Darwin, and noted exotic
philosophers, thus losing much of their respect for their
own religion as taught them by the true missionaries of the
gospel of the world's Redeemer, rendering their present a
gloomy back-ground, a black shadow of a once bright picture;
therefore the}' have become decrepit and have fallen down
like a huge memorial of antiquity prostrate and broken to
pieces, while the fragments only remain as a treasure belong
ing alone to the modern archieologist. Yet, a noble people
whose memorials have long since been swept away by the hand
of usurpation, and whose relics of their former greatness
have alike crumbled to dust leaving no trace of their former
existence, save here and there names of a few rivers and
little streams, touching for their simplicity, but for whom

12 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

justice has long- but vainly demanded an honorable plact
among1 Christian people, and for whom the time has surely
(yea, years ago) arrived to be redeemed from the cruel and
unjust bondage of that long-, dark nig-ht of misrepresentation
to which they have been so mercilessly subjected for so many
long- and weary years — a people g-ood without a pretense and
blest with plain reason and sober sense; whose traditional
history, connected as it is with the Eastern Continent, abound
ed with many of those striking- events which furnish modern
history with its richest materials; as every tribe had its
Thermopylae, and every village had produced its Leonidas.
But the veil of centuries past now hides those events* that
might have been bequeathed to the admiration of the present
age of the world. The opportunity was offered by the Red Man
to the White two centuries ago but was rejected, though
advancing years proved their merit. But too late was dis
covered the error . Our many unfortunate misunderstandings
and contests with the ancient and modern Native Americans of
this continent are as fertile as any of similar character that
have afflicted man-kind; while many characters and scenes
have been brought upon the theatre by the sanguine hand of war
which history has not recorded. Many of such have been
obtained and are recorded in this book; as it was my fate
(whether good or bad, fortunate or unfortunate yet without
cause for regret) to be born and • reared among the Choc-
taws; and having spent the bright morn of life to man-hood
among that excellent people and sister-tribe, the Chickasaws,
as well as my long and well known friendship and admiration
entertained for them and their entire race, have influenced
them to give me a hearing (not boasting but unvarnished
truth) upon any and all subjects above that which generally
falls to the lot of the White Man to obtain.

THE DISCOVERY OF THIS CONTINENT. IT'S RE
SULTS TO THE NATIVES.

In the year 1470, there lived in Lisbon, a town in Portu
gal, a man by the name of Christopher Columbus, who there
married Dona Felipa, the daughter of Bartolome oMonis de
Palestrello, an Italian (then deceased), who had arisen to
great celebrity as a navigator. Dona Felipa was the idol of
her doting father, and often accompanied him in his many
voyages, in which she soon equally shared with him his love
of adventure, and thus became to him a treasure indeed not
only as a companion but as a helper; for she drew his maps

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 13

and geographical charts, and also wrote, at his dictation, his
journals concerning his vovages. Shortly after the marriage
of Columbus and Felipa at Lisbon, thev moved to the island
of Porto Santo which her father had colonized and was gov
ernor at the itime of his death, and settled on a large landed
estate which belonged to Palestrello, and which he had be
queathed to Felipa together with all his journals and papers.
In that home of retirement and peace the young husband and
wife lived in connubial bliss for manv years. 'How could it
be otherwise, since each had found in the other a congenial
spirit, full of adventurous explorations, but which all others
regarded as yisionary follies. They read together and talked
over the journals and papers of Bartolomeo, during which
Felipa also entertained Columbus with accounts of her own
voyages with her father, together with his opinions ajid those
of other navigators of that age — his friends and companions
— of a possible country that might be discovered in the dis
tant West, and the future fame of the fortunate discoverer.
Thus they read, studied, thought and talked together 'con
cerning that which they believed the future would proye? a
reality, but of which no other had a thought. .;This opinion,
had found a permanent lodgment in the mind of Columbus
and awakened an enthusiasm therein never experienced -be
fore in the breast of man upon alike subject, and which
aroused him to that energy of determination which .rebuked
all fear and recognized no thought of failure. But alas, the
noble Felipa, who alone had stood by him in their mutual
opinions and shared with him the storm of thoughtless ridi
cule, lived not to learn of the fulfillment of their hopes, and
the undying fame of her adored husband, even as he lived not
to learn* the extent of his discovery. But alas, for human
justice and consistency. Instead of naming the "New
World11 in honor of his equally meritorious wife, the heroic
Dona Felipa, or in honor of both, it was wrested from them
by one Amerigo Vespucci, a pilot on a vessel of an obscure
navigator named Hojeda, and the world acquiesced in the
robbery. But such are its rewards!

But more than four-hundred years have been numbered
with the ages of the past, since a little fleet of three ships,
respectively named Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina, under the
command of Christopher Columbus, were nearing the coast of
that country that lay in its primitive grandeur and loveliness,
even as when pronounced "good11 by its- -Divine Creator,
beyond the unknown waters that stretched away in the
illimitable distance-to the West where sky and sea, though
ever receding, seemed still to meet in loving embrace, but
whose existence was first in the contemplations of Columbus

14 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

and Felipa,and its reality, first in the knowledge of Columbus.
At 10. o'clock, p.m., as it-is recorded, Columbus discovered
the feeble glimmerings of a distant light,' to which he at
once directed the attention of Pedro Gutierrez, who also saw
it. On the next day, at 2 a. m., the distant boom of a gun
was heard rolling along on the smooth surface of the tranquil
waters, the first that ever broke the solitude of the night
in those unknown regions of the deep. It came from
the Pinta, and bore the joyful intelligence that land
was found. But how little did these daring adventurers
iiriagine the magnitude of their discovery; or. that that mid
night signal also heralded the extermination of old notions
and the birth of new; the prelude to war and bloodshed with
a people whose types. were unknown to the civilized world!.
For man was there — man in his primitive state. Fiercely-
energetic, yet never demonstrative or openly expressing his
emotions; uncultured, yet slow and deliberate in his speech;
congenial, vet ever exhibiting a reserve and diffidence among
strangers; hospitable, yet knowing his rights, knew no fear
in maintaining them; trusting, yet welcomed death rather
than endure wrong. Yet, in most of his characteristics and.
peculiarities ' seemingly to have a foreign origin from the ~
known races of' mankind; still indisputably of the human'
ralce— he, too, was man; though with no regular or consistent'-
ideas of the Deity, religion or civil government, yet possessing'
correct views of a distinction between right and wrong, on_
wHich were founded very correct maxims orx codes of moral-'/;
ity; but whose penal code was a definite and' fixed rule ^oifii
personal retaliation — "An eye ior an eye and a tooth for a-
tpbtn;" thus they were gliding smoothly along on the tide of.
tirrie, nor had a troubled wave ever risen to disturb the tran-
quility of their voyage, or shadows darkened their sky, and
to whom the past had been so bright that the future held
only fair promises for them. But, alas, how little did they .
realize how dark a future was in store for them! That mid
night gun, as it momentarily flashed upon the deck of the
Pinta and then sent its welcomed boom to the listening ears
and watching eyes upon the decks of the Santa Maria and
Nina proclaiming that their languishing hopes were realized
and their declining expectations verified, was also the death
signal, first to the distant Peruvians by the hand of Pizarro ;
next, to the Aztecs by the hand of Cortez; then last, but not
least, to the North American Indians by the hand of De
Soto — as an introduction of what would be — but the Old died
hard to make way for the New.

Once the dominant power of this continent; but alas,
through unequal wars: through altered circumstances,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 15

through usurpation and frauds; through oppressions and
trials; through misfortunes and hardships, sorrows and suf
ferings, of which none can know but themselves, they have
been coerced by arbitrary power exerted, through treaty and
cessions by open-handed tyranny and wrong, to surrender
their country, their all, to make way for white civilization and
that liberty that only seemed to prosper and rejoice in pro
portion to "the destruction of their own; while they long but
vainly looked for the expected day when the White Man's
avarice would be satiated, and then the red and white races
could walk together in harmony and peace each aiding the
other in the development of the resources of their respective
portions of the vast continent that lay between them, extend
ing from ocean to ocean, to the mutual advantages of each in
the noble and humane endeavors to attain the chief end of
man — the glory of God and the enjoyment of Him in this world
and the one to come — but the White Race would not.

But whence the origin of this peculiarly interesting and
wonderful people? From what nation of people descended?
Whence and at what date, how and by what route came they
to this continent? Language has contributed its mite and the
archaeologist handed in his little, concerning the infancy of
this peculiar people, yet the veil of mystery still hangs around
them shutting out all knowlege of the primitive past. Who
shall rend the veil and tell whence they came to possess this
continent in that distant long-ago before the dawn of history's
morn? Alas, even the feeble glimmerings of vague traditions
have not furnished a ray of light to penetrate the darkness of
the long night that enshrouds their origin. It is a sealed
book.

Such has been for two centuries past, and still is, the
long drawn and doleful wail concerning the North American
Indians' primitive land; romantic in affording an unlimited
field over which the wild, dreamy speculations of the imagina
tive minds, of which the present age is so prolific in every
thing read or heard about the Red Race, may find abundant
space to indulge in their visionary delights unrestrained, un
disturbed, undismayed; the alpha and the omega of their
knowledge of the North American Indian race in toto; since
the causes that induced them to forsake and how they drifted
from the shores of the eastern to the western continent, are
today treasured in their ancient traditions still remembered
by the few remaining of their aged and also written upon a
few wampum — the archives of their historic past — that has
escaped the white vandals' devilish delight in destroying all
that is Indian, now forever buried in that night of darkness
which precedes their known history.

16 HISTORY OF THK INDIANS.

But to those who knew them in their native freedom, when
uncontaminated by the demoralizing" influences of unprincip
led whites, they were truly a peculiar and interesting- people
whose external habits, strange opinions, peculiar dispositions
and customs, seemed to belong alone to themselves and to
distinguish .them from all known people of the human race;
yet, wholly susceptible to as high moral and intellectual im
provements as any other race of man-kind; while their distinct
identity with the human race is a fact which has never yet
been successfully disproved. Though severed by climate,
language and a thousand external conditions, there is still
one deep underlying identity, which makes all man-kind
brothers; an instructive and interesting subject worthy
the attention and consideration of all man-kind. It is
neither new nor novel but is as ancient as the creation of
Adam and Eve.

Though the Indians were without letters, chronology, or
any thing by which correctly to denote their dynasties but
that which may be inferred from their monumental remains,
yet there is much in their recitals of ancient epochs to give
great consistency to their legends and traditions, and fully
sufficient to reunite the assumed broken link in the chain of
their history, which, in the ages of the past, connected them
with the Old World; and their history, antiquities and mytho
logy are still preserved by many striking allegories, here
and there, or in wild yet consistent romance. And we can
but admit that there are many evident truths which we must
acknowledge; for when viewed by the light of facts, we see
in the North American Indians a peculiar variety of the
human race with traits of character plainly oriental, but
who long since have been lost to all ancient and modern
history.

But the time and manner of their migration to the
western continent, as before stated, are wrapt in impenetra
ble mystery. Those who have studied the physiology, lan
guage, antiquities, and traditions of this peculiar people,
have alike concluded that their migration to this continent,
judging from .the ancient ruins found, probably extends
back to within five hundred years of the building of Babylon.
Dating from the discoverv of Columbus, the western con
tinent has been known to the European world upwards of
four hundred years; yet it is now generally conceded (if not
universally admitted) that the Scandinavians (or Northmen)
discovered it long before Columbus, and had sailed along the
Atlantic coast from Greenland early in the 10th century.
Those ancient and daring sea-rovers of Norway, who ventured
upon the pathless ocean without chart or compass guided

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 17

alone by the planetary worlds above, discovered Iceland^ in the
year 850, upon which they established a settlement; and in
the following- century, stumbled upon the bleak and inhospi
table shores of Greenland upon which was also founded a
colony. But it has been awarded to Leif, the son of Eric the
Red, as the first discoverer of the North American continent
in the 10th century. He named the, new country (now
believed to be the coast of Massachusetts) Vinland, or Vine-
land, from the abundance of wild grapes that were there
found . It is said the records of this expedition state: "And
when spring came they sailed away, and Leif g-ave to the land
a name after its sort, and called it Vinland. They sailed
then until they reached Greenland; and ever afterward, Leif
was called 'Leif the Lucky."

The traditions of the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creek,
Cherokees, Seminoles, Delawares, Shawnese, as learned by
the early missionaries, and, in fact, of all the tribes who
formerly dwelt east of the Mississippi River, state that the
White Race come to this continent from the East, but that
their fore-fathers came from the North West.

It is also said, that a Mexican historian makes a new
attempt to show that America was discovered in the fifth
century, A. D., by a party of Buddhist monks from Afg-hanis-
tan, of whom one, Hwai Shan, returned to Asia after an
absence of forty one years. A short account of the land
which he visited, supposed to be Mexico, was included in the
official history of China. It is said, there is proof that Hwai
Shan actually visited some unknown eastern regions, and the
traditions of Mexico contain an acqount of the arrival of
monks. But whenever seen or found, whether in the fifth,
tenth, fifteenth, or eig-hteenth centuries, the North American
Indians have possessed nearly all the leading- traits that they
now possess. And all admit, that of all the races of man
kind upon earth that wandered from the native countries and
have been thrown back into intellectual darkness, the North
American Indians have undergone the least chang-e, preserv
ing1 their physical and mental type nearly the same, seemingly
as if bound by the irresistible power of an unchanging-
decree; and who, in their unvarying individuality and univer
sal idiosyncracy, point back to no known race of the human
family except the Jews. When regarded as a whole, they
appear to have been composed of fragments of different
tribes of the races of man, yet having a general affinity to
each other, and, with here and there an exception, appearing
to be parts of a whole. The majority of their languages are
evidently derivative, and of a style of synthesis more ancient

18 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

than those even of Greece and Rome, but exhibiting- no
analogies to those of northern and western Europe. N

Though Bancroft affirms "that their ancestors were,
like themselves, not yet disenthralled from nature," yet the
traditions of many of the tribes pointed back to an era in the
distant past in which they lived in a better and happier con
dition, but that was all, nor have ever the fragmentary
writings of the ancients thrown any light upon their history.
The Nilotic inscriptions, the oldest known, are alike silent
concerning them, but that they may be still more ancient,
their language, strange idiosyncracies, and all that render
them so peculiar and seemingly different from all the known
human race, evidently denote and sustain the probability, if
nothing nore. Be this as it may, all evidence, yet obtained
' proves them to be of very ancient origin; and no known book
goes far enough back into the past to date the period of their
origin, unless it be the Sacred Scriptures. If we refer to
them a proto-type may possibly be traced in the Eberites, a
branch of the house of Almodad, the son of Joktan, of whom
it is said, during all periods of their history, that they were
reckless, heedless, impatient of restraint or reproof. Yet,
this but adds to the affirmation, that history will ever vainly
inquire, "whence their origin."

But that many of their traditions were based on facts is
unquestionably true. Many tribes possess traditions of the
first appearance of the White Race among them. The
Mohicans and Lenni Lenapes have a tradition of the voyage,
in 1609, of the great navigator and explorer, Hudson, up the
river now bearing his name. Cartier's visit to the St. Law
rence in 1534, is remembered by tradition among the
Algonquins, who still call the French, "People of the Wooden
vessel." The Chippewas declared (1824) according to their
traditions that seven generations of people had lived and died
since the French first sailed upon the Lakes. Taking 1608
as the year of the settlement of Canada by the French, and
allow thirty years to a generation, the accuracy of their
tradition is certainly praiseworthy, to say the least of it.
That their ancestors came from the Eastern continent there
are many traditional evidences that seem founded on truth.
In Sir Alexander Mackenzie's travels among the most
.northern tribes, he says the Chippewas had a tradition that
they originally came from another country, which was
inhabited by a very wicked people, that in their travels they
suffered greatly in passing over a great lake, which was
always frozen and covered with snow. McKe'rizie, page 387,
says: "Their progress (the great Athapasca family) was
easterly, and acc'orq jng to to their own tradition, they came

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 19

from Siberia ; agreeing- in dress and manners with the people
now found upon the coast of Asia." John Johnston, for
many years an agent among- the Shawnees, an Algonquin
tribe, states that these Indians had a tradition of a foreign
origin. In a letter of July 7th, 1819, (American Archaeolo
gist, p. 273) he says : "The people of this nation have a
tradition that their ancestors crossed the sea ; and that they
migrated from Florida to Ohio and Indiana;" where they
were located at the time of his agency among them. "They
were the only tribe," he writes, "with which I am acquainted,
who admit a foreign origin." The Cherokees also admit it.
Oconostata, or the Big warrior, chief of the ancient Chero
kees, claimed that his people's ancestors came from Asia,
landing far to the north-west of this continent; thence to
Mexico ; thence to this country. (Milfort, p. 269.) Johnston
further states respecting the Shawnees. "Until lately, they
kept yearly sacrifices for their safe arrival in this country.
Whence they came, or at what period they arrived in
America, they do not know. It is a prevailing opinion among
them, that Florida had been inhabited by white people, who
had the use of iron tools. Blackhoof, a celebrated Chief,
affirms that he has often heard it spoken of by old people,
that stumps of trees, covered with earth, were frequently
found, which had been cut down with edged tools." But
this, no doubt, was the work of De Soto and his army in 1541.
Many attribute to the Indians a Jewish origin, and not
without some seemingly plausible reason. James Adair, a
man, it is recorded, of fine erudition, and who lived more
than thirty years among the ancestors of the present
Chickasaws, and was often among the ancient Choctaws,
Cherokees and Muscogees, and thus became familiar with
the customs and habits of these Southern Indians. Tradition
states that Adair commenced living among the Chickasaws
in 1844. He wrote and published a work; "The American
Indians," in 1775. He was well versed in the Hebrew
language, and in his long residence with the Indians acquired
an accurate knowledge of their tongue, and he devoted the
larger portion of his work to prove that the Indians were
originally Hebrews, and were a portion of the lost tribes of
Israel. He asserts that at the "Boos-Ketous" (the ceremony
of initiating youth to manhood) "among the ancient Musco
gees and other tribes, the warriors danced around the holy-
fire, during which the elder priest invoked the Great Spirit,
while they responded Halelu! Halelu! then Haleluiah!
Haleluiah!" He based his belief that they were originally
Jews, upon their division into tribes, worship of Jehovah,
notions of theocracy, belief in the ministrations of angels,

20 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

language and .dialects, manner of computing time, their
Prophets and High Priests, festivals, fasts and religious
rites, daily sacrifices, ablutions and anointings, laws of
uncleanlinless, abstinence from' unclean things, marriages,,
divorces, and punishments for adultery, other punishments,
their. towns of refuge, purification and ceremony preparatory
to war, their ornaments, manner of curing the sick, burial
of the dead, mourning for the dead, choice of names adapted
to their circumstances and times, their own traditions, and
the accounts of our English writers, and the testimony which
the Spanish and other authors have given concerning the
primitive inhabitants of Peru and Mexico. He insists that
in nothing do they differ from the Jews except in the rite of
circumcision. The difference In food, mode of living and
climate are relied on by Adair, to account for the difference
in the color, between the Jew and the Indian. Abram
Mordecai, an intelligent Jew, who dwelt fifty years in the
the ancient Creek nation, confidently believed that the
Indians were originally of his people, and he asserted that in
their Green Corn Dances he had heard them often utter in
graceful tones, the word Yavoyaha! Yavoyaha! He was
always informed by the Indians that this meant Jehovah, or
the Great Spirit, and that they were then returning thanks
for the abund'ant harvest with which they were blest.

I often heard the Choctaws, when engaged in their
, ancient dances at their former homes east of the Mississippi
River, utter in concert and in solemn tone of voice Yar-vo-hah,
Yar-vo-yar-hah! and when asked its signification, replied :
"It is the name of the Great Spirit we worship." According
to an ancient tradition of the Choctaws, as before stated, the
ancient Choctaws, Chickasaws and Muscogees (ndw Creeks)
were once the same people, and today the Creeks have many
pure Choctaw words in their language.

Other writers, who have lived among the ancient Indians,
are of the same opinion with Adair and Abram Mordecai,
forming this conclusion solely on the fact that many of the
religious rites and ceremonies of the various tribes they
regarded as truly Jewish, to that extent as to induce them
to believe that the North American Indians are originally
from the Jews.

Even the renowned Quaker, Wm. Penn, in expressing
his views upon this subject, says: "For the original, I am
ready to believe them the Jewish race, I mean of the stock of
the ten tribes, and that for the following reasons:

"First. They were to go to a land not planted or known,,
which, to be sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe, and
He that intended that extraordinary judgment upon them,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 21

might make the passage not uneasy to them, and it is not im
possible in itself, from the easternmost part of Asia to' the
westernmost part of America. In the next place, I find them
of like countenance, and their children of so lively resemb
lance that a man would think himself in Duke's place or
Berry street in London, when he seeth them. But this is not
all. They agree in' rites; they reckon by moons; they offer
their first fruits; they have a kind of feast of tabernacles; they
are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones; their mourning
a year; customs of women; with many other things. "

There was a belief among many of the ancient tribes of
the North American Indians, that their earliest ancestors
were created within or at least. once lived within, the interior
of the earth. The Lenni Lenape, now known as the Delaware
Indians, "considered,'' says Heckewelder, in his "Manners
and Customs, of the Indians," page 249, "the earth as their
universal mother. They believed that they were created
within its bosom, where for a long time they had their abode
before they came to live on its surface. But as to the form
under which they lived in the interior of the 'earth, their
mythologists differ. Some'assert that they 'lived 'there in
human shape, while others, with much more consistency,
declare that their existence was' in the form of ' : certain*
terrestrial animals, such as the ground:hog, rabbit and the
tortoise." Similar views respecting their origin were held
by the Iroquois. The Rev. Christopher Pyrloeus, who
formerly lived among the Iroquois and spoke their language,
was told, (according to Heckewelder) by a respectable
Mohawk chief, "a tradition of the Iroquois which was as
follows: That they had dwelt in the earth when' it was dark
and where no sun ever shone. That, though they engaged
in hunting for a living, they ate mice. That one of their
tribe called Ganawayahhah having accidentally found a hole
at which to g*et out of the earth, went out, and after look
ing around a while saw a deer, which he killed, and took back
with him to his home in the earthj and that, ' on account both
'-of the flesh of the deer proving such excellent food, and the
favorable description1 he gave of the appearances above, they
concluded it best to change their homes from the inside to
the. outside of the earth, and accordingly did so, and im
mediately engaged in raising corn, beans, etc." Hecke
welder does not state whether these traditions of the Lenni
Lenape and Iroquois were associated by them with any-
particular localities. However, the place of origin was
generally located in some suitable spot within the territory
of the tribes, and which was regarded with much veneration
by all. "We are told by Cussac, a later authority for the Iro-

22 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

qois tradition," says Schoolcraft (in his Indian Tribes, part
5, pag-e 636) "that the place at which the first small band of
Indians was believe to have issued from the earth was a
certain eminence near the Oswego Falls. Also, -(part 5, p*
682) "that the Caddos, lonies, and Amaudakas believe that
their original ancestors came out of the Hot Springs of Ark
ansas." Mercy, in his Exploration of the Red River, p. 69,
states that the Wichitas, on the Red River, believed that
their fore-fathers came out of the mountains which bear
their name. Jones, in his Traditions of the Nosth American
Indians, v. 3. p.. 187,. says: The Minetories, on the Upper
Missouri, pointed out two hills as marking- the spot of of the
tribe's origin. Side by side with these of the "earth born"
ancestry is another group of origin traditions, which repre
sent the first of the human race as having their origin in
and coming out of some body of water, a river, spring or
lake, instead of the ground. Long, in his expedition to the
Rocky Mountains, v. 1. p. 336, said: One branch of the
Omahas asserted that their founder arose out of the waterr
bearing in his hand an ear of red maize, for which reason
the red maize was never used by them for food." De Smet,
in his Oregon Missions, p. 178, states that, in the country of
the Blackfoot tribe there are two lakes; one of them is known
as the lake of men, and the other, as the lake of women.
Out of the former came the father of the tribe and of the
latter, the mother,

These two traditions of man'sorigin, the one thathe came
out of the ground, the other, that he came out of the water,
have been regarded by some as distinct from one another
both in origin and meaning; while by others, as identical, and
both being the mutilated interpretations of a myth into
which a cave and a body of water enter as prominent and
essential features.

Very similar, says Schoolcraft, in his Indian Traditions,
4, pp. 89 and 90, is the tradition of the Navajoes, of New
Mexico. According to their tradition as recorded by Dr.
Ten Brock, all mankind and all the animals once lived in a
gloomy cavern in the heart of the Cerro Naztarny mountains,
on the river San Juan. A lucky accident led them to suspect
that the walls of their prison-house were quite thin, and the
raccoon was set to dig a way out. .As he did not succeed the
moth worm took his place and after much hard labor effected
an opening. But when he reached the outside of the moun
tain, he found all things submerged under the sea, so he
threw up a little mound of earth and sat down to ponder on
the situation. Presently the water receded in four great
rivers and left in their place a mass of soft mud. Four

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 23

winds arose and dried up the mud and then the men and ani
mals came up, occupying" in their passage several days. As
yet there was no sun, moon nor stars; so the old men held a
council and resolved to manufacture these luminaries.
There were among them two flute players, who, while they
had dwelt within the mountain, had been wont to enliven them
with music; and when the sun and moon were finished, they
were given into the charge of these musicians, who have been
carrying them ever since. These are the main points of the
Navajo legend as recorded by Dr. Ten Brock. It will be
observed that the sea, which is nothing else than the prime
val sea that forms so common a feature in cosmogonies, holds
quite as prominent a place in the story as does the cavern
itself, and the two might easily become separated in an incom
plete version. Either the cave or the water might be dropped.
In fact, there is another version of this legend, given by
Col. J. A. Eaton, in which there is no mention of a cave. The
Navajoes, according to Eaton's version of the story, came out
of the earth in the middle of a certain lake in the' valley of
Montezuma, at some distance from their present location.,
The question which occurs first, upon surveying this group
of legends so alike in their general tenor, is, are they histor
ically connected with one another in the sense that they are
the fragments of some primeval tale current among the In
dians at a time when they were less widely scattered over
the continent than at pr'esent, or have thfey sprung up at sev
eral centers .independently of each other? This question is
of great interest to American ethnologists, but one to which,
in the present state of our knowledge respecting the mode of
growth and diffusion of popular tales, it would, perhaps, be
rash to attempt an answer. It may be said, however, in fa
vor of the former hypothesis that the account of man's ori
gin — at least, however, the story is circumstantially related
— is, so far as I have been able to discover, peculiar to Ameri
ca. It is true it has sometimes been classed with those old
World legends which represent man as of an earthly nature,
either as having been fashioned out of clay by the hand of
some Promethean potter, or as having sprung from a seed of
stones or of dragon's teeth scattered over the soil, but a
close inspection of any of its detailed versions will show that
the story teller has in mind a thought essentially different
from those embodied in these classic legends. The first
men, according to the Indians' account, did not spring up as
vegetable life from the surface of the earth; they came out of
its interior in the human shape and afterward accompanied
by the animals of the chase. Indeed, when closely scanned,
the story is seen to be an account, not of man's origin, but

24 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

simply of a change in the scene of his existence. Except in
a few cases in which we are told that the original men were
created by the gods before being- brought^ above ground, we
receive no hint as to how their life began. We are merely
told that the}r; came a long- time ago out of a cave or
out of a lake, within which they have lived from the begin
ning-. This is a characteristic feature which I have not met
with distinctly portrayed in any legends outside of America.
But whether or not these tales have any true kinship with
one another , it hardly admits of doubt that they have a com
mon basis, either of facts or of logic, and that they may' "bet
regarded as practically, if not actually, different versions of
a single original tale., What is this basis, and what is the
meaning of .the story? This question has often been asked,
and has been answered variously. From a number of pro
posed "interpretations," It select two, which seem the
most worthy of. consideration', as. well from theirinherent
plausibility, as from the names by which they are endorsed.
Mr. Herbert Spencer, speaking, in a /recent work, with .ex
press reference to the Navajo tradition, of which an outline
has been given above; says: "Either the early progenitors
of a tribe were dwellers in caves or the mountains; or the
mountains making most conspicuously the elevated region
whence they came is identified with the object whence they
sprung." — (Spencer Principles of Sociology, Vol. i,.p. 393.)
And again: \"W/here caves are used for interments, t.hey
became the supposed places of abode for the dead; and
hence develops the notion of a subterranean World." — (Ibid,
p. 219.) Underlying the tradition of the Delawares and Iro-
quois, Heckewelder saw an admirable philosophical meaning
— a curious analogy between the general and the individual
creation. This view has been adopted by Dr. D. G. Brinton
who presents it as follow: "Out of the earth rises life, to it
all returns. She it is who. guards all germs, nourishes all
beings. T] e Aztecs painted her a woman with countless
breasts; the Peruvians called her Mama Alpha, mother
earth; in the Algonquin tongue the word for earth, mother,
father, are from the same root Home, Adam, Chomaigenes,
what do all these words mean but earth — born, the son of the
soil, repeated in the poetic language of Attica in anthropos,
he who springs up like — a flower? As in Oriental legends
the origin of man from the earth was veiled under the story
that he was the progeny of some mountain fecundated by the
embrace of Mithras or Jupiter, so the Indians often pointed
to some height or some cavern, as the spot whence the first
men issued, adult and armed from womb of All — mother
earth . This cavern, which thus dimly lingered in the mem-

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS 25

ory of nations, occasionally expanded to a mother- wo rid,
imagined to underlie this of ours, and still inhabited by be
ing's of our kind, who have never been lucky enough to dis
cover its exit. Such tales of an under-world are very fre
quent among the Indians, and are a very natural out-growth
of the literal belief that the race is earth-born."— (The
Myths of the New World, 2nd. ed., pp. 238 to 245.) The fol
lowing is the version given by Lewis and Clark of the tradi
tion of the Mandans, on the upper Mississippi:

"The whole nation resided in one large village under
ground near a subterraneous lake. A grapevine extended
its roots down to their habitation and give them a view of the
light, ^ome of the most adventurous climbed up the vine,
and were delighted with the sight of the earth, which they
found covered with buffalo, and rich with every kind of fruit.
Returning with the grapes they had gathered, their country
men were so pleased with the taste of them, that the whole
nation resolved to leave their dull residence for the charms
of the upper region. Men, women and children ascended by
means of the vine; and when about half the nation had
reached the surface of the^ earth, a corpulent woman, who
was clambering up the vine, broke it with her weight and
closed upon herself and the rest of the nation the light of the
sun.

When the Mandans die, -they .expect to return to the
original seats of their forefathers, the good reaching the
ancient village by means of the lake, which the burden of
sins of the wicked will not enable them to pass. We might
conjecture upon1 general grounds* that the idea of an under
world found among the Mandans, and many other American
tribes sprang from the same sort of reasoning as has .evi
dently given rise to it among other nations."

Prince Maximilian of New Wied, who visited the Man-
dans subsequently to Lewis and: Clark, and learned addit
ional particulars respecting their belief in an under-ground
origin tells us that the Mandans, like so many other nations,
supposed the world to be divided into stages and stories.1
These were ' eight in number, four of them v/erzabove the
earth, and four below, the earth itself forming the fourth
stage from the bottom. (Maximilian, Travels in North
America, London ed. p. 336.) There seems, therefore, to
be very little room for doubt as to the original character of
the cave of the Mandan legend. Among the Navajoes we
obtain equally satisfactory evidence touching the original of
this legendary cave. Dr Ten Brock tells us that he often
conversed with the Navajoes on the subject of their beliefs,
and he gives us, among other particulars, this very impor-

26 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

tant item: ."The old men say that the world (i. e. the earth)
is, as it were, suspended, and that when the sun disappears
in the evening", he passes under and lights up our former
place of abode, until he again reappears at morning in the
east. There can be no question as to the location and the
real character of the cave into which the sun descends at
evening, and from which at morning" he comes forth. Under
one disguise or another, this cavern occurs in legends the
world over. It is the cave which the Polynesian Mani
descends to visit his deserting mother, and into which
Orpheus descends in search of Eurydiee; it is the L/atinian
cave, in which Selene, the Moon, wooes Endymion, the
Setting Sun. Nor need we be disconcerted because the
Navajoes have located it within a particular mountain. " It
would seem that these Indian leg-ends have been handed
down by tradition through cycles of ages, founded upon the
declaration of the Bible, that man is a child of the soil— that
he is earth born. Professor Campbell, of the Presbyterian
College, Montreal, believes that he 'has found the key to the
Hittite inscriptions, and has sent ,^ie result of his investiga-
jtions to the Society of Biblical' Archaeology. The most
•striking and important feature of this work is the identity
established by Professor Campbell, as he believes, between
the Aztecs and the Hittites. He concludes a statement of
his discovery in the "Montreal Witness" as follows: "It is
interesting to know that we have on this continent the re
mains of a people who played a great part in ancient history.
It is also gratifying to learn that by the .establishment of the
Hittite origin of the Aztecs, evolutionism in philology and
ethnology will receive its death blow."

There is a clan of Choctaws now living among the
Creeks in the Creek Nation,- who did not move in 1832 with
the Choctaws east of the Mississippi River until the exodus
of the Creeks and then came with them to the present Creek
nation where they have remained to this day. They were
known when living east of the Mississippi River "as. the
Hitchiti or Hichitichi clan, both words (as given above) are
corruptions of the two Choctaw words Hish-i (hair) It-ih
(mouth.)

Now if the Aztecs be of Hittite origin, and the Choctaws
of Aztec origin, of which there is great probability (if /their
ancient traditions may be relied on) may not the Choctaw
words Hishi Itih, the name of one of their ancient Iksas
(clans) be itself a corruption of the word Hittite, and point
ing back to their ancient origin in the eastern world?

A few of the Iksas of the Choctaws, at the advent of the
missionaries in 1818-20, claimed the earth to be their mother,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 27

and connected a tradition of their origin with a certain
artifical mound erected by their ancestors as a memorial of
their arrival in Mississippi from the West (Mexico) of which
I will more definitely speak elsewhere.

But though the remote history of this peculiar people is
forever hidden in the darkness of by-gone ages, yet they had
a true history, which, if only known, would have presented
as many interesting and romantic features, as that of any
of the races of mankind. Truly, would there not be found
much in that distant period of their existence that precedes
their introduction to the White Race, which, when placed in
contrast to their now seemingly inevitable destiny (extermi
nation) would loudly appeal to the hearts of the philanthro
pists and Christians of these United States. And even after
their introduction to the Whites, had they possessed the
same desire. to learn their history, and also to elevate them
in the scale of intelligence and morality, as they did in get
ting possession of their country and destroying them, in
what a different condition would that race of people be to
day, and what interesting and instructive narratives would
have been given to the world? What interesting narratives
could have been written even of the Natchez in the days of
their prosperity and power — those worshippers of the sun
with Eastern rites! What too, of the Grecian fignres, the
letters and the hieroglyphics, which have been found repre
sented on the earthen pottery of so many tribes of this pe
culiar people's work — a people which might have been better
understood and more comprehended, but for shameful mis
representation and calumnious falsehood ! What, also, of
the once powerful Choctaw; the invincible Chickasaw; the
intrepid Muscogee and the peerless Seminole, when in the
pride and strength of their respective nationalities! But it
is to be greatly regretted that, of that history nothing will
ever be learned — not even its alphabet, as the mists of ages,
have drawn their impenetrable curtain over all; and though
the remote past has been questioned, still no response ever
comes, except through the vague and unsatisfactory evi
dence of an ancient people, long antedating all historical in
formation. But tribe after tribe have appeared upon the
theater of life, acted their part in its drama, and then passed
off into the silence of forgetfulness; and their ancient do
mains have passed from the hands of their, long line of
descendants into those of stranger of whom they never knew
or even heard; and who have left behind no memorials but
embankments of earth in the form of mounds and fortifica
tions, separate and in combination, scattered all over the land
Li numbers an<3 magnitude that "awaken and exctte the curi-

28 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

osity of the beholder, but fail to satisfy; yet giving- numer
ous and satisfactory evidences of the foot-prints of a long-
vanished people and the prolonged occupancy of the North N
American continent by the Indian risce wliose few and feeble
descendants still ling-er upon the stageof life, as the wretched
and miserable words ol oppression and cruelty — a. living-,
breathing- allegory of poverty and want; since, by the law of
force we extended our.possessions and made the irrestiveness
our excuse for conquering them, and then plundering them
of their lands and homes, and as each'territory was added, a
new tribe was' encountered; and its fears and res'.iveness ,in
like manner taken advantage of as our avarice dictated that it
could be made profitable to pur pecuniary interests. And
th'at we may alike bury the ' remainirig- few in the grave of ig
nominy, every thing that is"spok'en, written, or publistied,
concerning that. nb\y conquered, oppressed, .impoverished,'
hopeless and unhappy people. Is but a reiterated and pro
longed mass of exaggerations, misrepresentations and false
hoods, sent broadcast over the land by- government officials,
landed experts, and,. in fact, every other kind of unprincipled
white skins; from constable to congressmen, and from land-
sharks to governors, who 'ride across the Indians' country
on railroads and gather their "wisdom" upon Indian matters
from the car windows, or a moments chat upon the platforms
with the white scums which infest every depot in their coun
try—thus keeping the Indian between the devil and his imps
—then return each to his retreat, there, to disgorge their
foul^souls of the putrid mass.

Yet, that this noble but wrongfully abused peo'ple, to
whom Christopher Columbus gave the name Indian, from
their fancied resemblance to the people of India, but whose
habits, customs and characteristics differed so widely that
it may be truthfully affirmed, that no people could be more
dissimilar, are one of the primitive races of man-kind, cannot
be questioned; though it is admitted by all who are truly
acquainted with them, that among all the races of man-kind,
few have exhibited a greater diversity, or, if it may be so
expressed, greater antithesis of character, than the native
North American Indian warrior before humiliated by the
merciless hands of his white conquerors. The office of the
chief was not hereditary, but depended upon the confidence
entertained in him by his warriors. His power also de
pended upon his personal merit and the confidence reposed
in him as a skillful war-leader. His prerogative consisted in
conducting negotiations of peace and war; in leading his
warriors against the enemies of their country, in selecting
the place of encampment, and in receiving and entertaining;

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 29

strangers of note. Yet, even in those he was controlled to a
great extent by the views and inclinations of his warriors.
The Indian warrior was indeed well fitted for the destiny to
which nature seemingly had adapted him. He was light in
form, yet sinewy and active, and unsurpassed in the endur
ance of protracted fatigue and hardship; strictly temperate
even to abstemiousness requiring but little food when upon
the war-path, and that of the simplest kind. He was en
dowed with a penetrating sagacity, subtle wit, quick con
ception, and brilliant imagination, with quick and acute
sensibilities; a proud and fearless spirit was stamped upon
his face and flashed from his black and piercing eye; easily
aroused by the appeals of eloquence; his language, whose
words might well be compared to gems and flowers made him
truly nature's orator; and though a restless warrior, yet, he
was generous and hospitable, and the door of his cabin was
always open to the wayfarer; and his most inveterate enemy,
having- broken bread with him, could repose unharmed
beneath the inviolable sanctity of his home. In war he was
daring, cunning, reckless, self-denying, and self-devoted; in
peace, strictly just, generous, proverbially hospitable to
strangers as well as acquaintances, modest, revengeful,
superstitious, and truthful to the greatest degree— ever faith
ful to the last to his promised word. Justly could the North
American Indian claim as having no lineal descendant of
Ananias and Sapphira among his race.

Such were some of the traits of this peculiar people.
And even to day many tribes are the same as they were
centuries ago, still clinging to their ancient habits and
customs and adhering to the belief of their ancient theories,
seeing and recognizing alone their Great Spirit both in
animate and inanimate nature, And why? Because, in so
few instsnces, have the renovating principles of the Bible
been presented to them as they should and could have been.

True the arts of civilization as possessed by ns were
unknown by the Indians prior to the discovery of the conti
nent by the White Race, still its seemingly illimitable forests
were alive with a free, independent and happy people, a war
like race, jealous of their rights; and its shades and glens
rang with the wild hoyopa-tussaha (Choctaw-warcry), and
the echoes of its hills and .mountains threw back the" defiant
shout of many a gallant warrior, as he huried along the war
path in the noon-tide of his joyous man-hood, but soon to
slumber in the long night of oblivion, as the fatal result of
his unrestrained zeal; while the more experienced veteran
made his movements with that calm deliberation that scorned
every appearance of haste. Though war-like, yet, they

30 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

were a devotional people, to their beliefs, founded alone upon
the teaching's of nature — their only light. They had
their good "Great Spirit" and their evil. "Great Spirit"
between which there was continual strife for the mas
tery and possession of the human mind. What less
or more have we? They acknowledged the mysterious
power of these two antagonistic spirits, and that in
numerable numbers of subordinate spirits waited upon
both. In what do they differ from us in this? They
believed a spirit governed the winds, guided the clouds,
and ruled in all things that inspired fear; thus they re-
garded'the elements, and all nature, as spirits, whose images
were seen and whose voices were heard above, beneath, every
where. Little differing from the mythology of the ancients
Witchcraft swayed its sceptre . over the mind of the poor.
Indian, whose intellectual light emanated alone from nature;
yet he was not so much the object of just censure, as those
who had the Bible and yet advocated the doctrine. Remem
ber Cotton Mather, a licensed expounder of the Sacred
Scriptures, and his numerous adherents, who advocate^ and
taught the doctrine of Witchcraft, and persecuted their
opposers, even to the burning of them at the stake. But for
the delusive beliefs and fears, which seemed to the Indian
as truth, that encompassed him on every side rendering him
the ready victim of the wildest superstition and dread, he has
been called "The Wild Man of the Woods," and though his
religion involved the varying and confused belief in good and
evil spirits in every imaginary creation of air, earth, and sky
conceivable to the human mind, existing with not a ray of
intellectual light shedding its healing beams through his soul,
is it just that he should be reviled for his seeming apathy in
moral and intellectual advancement by those who have ever
lived within the circle of ever good and truthful influence,
but who closed nearly every avenue by which the hapless
Indian might return to the ,first principles of truth and
intellectual light? Were not their traditions concerning the
creation of the world, and those of their own origin; and
their views and opinions of man, more worthy of praise than
contempt? Was not their belief in the Great Good Spirit by
whom all things were made; also in a Great Evil Spirit, who
ever plans and labors to counteract all the good and benevolent
designs of the Great and Good Spirit, so universal among all
the North American Indians, and their great respect for, and
undeviating and unwearied devotion to, the Great and Good
Spirit, and hate, fear, and dread of the Great and Evil Spirit,
a silent but pungent rebuke to their white scoffers and

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 31

defamers, who profess so much concerning- the Deity,
yet exercise so little of a devotional spirit?

But whence their universal belief in a future state of ex
istence after death, though vague their ideas in regard to
future rewards and punishments? Whence also their uni
versal belief in a deluge at an ancient epoch, which destroyed
all mankind^ but a few? Whence their belief that the earth
was their mother, who sent them forth from caves, ravines,
mounds and mountains? Whence the belief in fatality — that
the fate of man is irrevocably fixed? to which, perhaps, may
be attributed their stability and indifference to danger
and death? Whence their belief in transmigration and thus
claiming relationship with the beasts of the field and the
birds of the air — '-expressive of an idea, it seems, of a foreign
origin? Whence their belief that the race of animals was
first created, then followed the creation of man? From
what ancient fountain of knowledge obtained they these va
rious views? Was it intuitive? How manifest their pride
also, and great their delight in having their traditions and le
gends point back to local origin, even to that of mysterious
revelation with all the quadrupeds that burrow in the hidden
recesses of the earth, differing in this but little from the
mythology of the ancients.

Their opinions concerning the departure of the spirit at
death were various. Some believed that it lingered for a
time near those earthly precincts which it had just left, and
it continued still to be, in a certain manner, akin to the
earth. For this reason, provisions were placed at the feet
of the corpse during the time it lay on its elevated scaffold,
exposed to the influence of light or 'air. The deceased had
not as yet entered into the realm of spirits; but when the
flesh had' withered away from the bones, these were buried
with songs and cries, terminating in feasts and dances pecu
liar to the ceremonies of disposing of the dead. Others be
lieve that when the spirit leaves the body, it lingers for some
time before it can be wholly separated from its former con
ditions; after which it wanders off traversing vast plains in
the -moonlight. At length, it arrives at a great chasm in the
earth, on the other side of which is the land of the blessed,
where there is eternal spring and hunting grounds supplied
with great varieties of game. But there is no other way of
crossing this fearful gulf l)ut by means of a barked pine log
that lay across the chasm, which is round, smooth and slip
pery. Over this the disembodied spirits must pass if they
would reach the land of a blissful immortality. Such as
have lived purely and honestly upon earth are enabled to pass
safely over the terrific abyss on the narrow bridge to the

32 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

'land of eternal happiness. But such as have lived wickedly.
in their attempt to pass over on the log-, are sure to lose then-
Acting and fall into the mighty abyss yawning- below.
Surely this is not a very objectionable, idea of retribution af
ter death. However, their estimate of good and evil, in
'many respects, was imperfect and circumscribed; and their
ideas of future rewards and punishments after death seemed
merely the the reflex of their earthly joys and sorrows, the
natural consequence of minds not enlightened by the teach
ings of the Bible. Therefore, they beheld a transformed di
vinity in animate and inanimate nature, in every thing which
lives or evinces an in-dwelling power, whom they sought to
propitiate by gifts and sacrifices. Their ".Medicine Men"
were the mediators between themselves and their imagined
deity; these "Medicine Men" were believed, by means of
their knowledge of the mysteries of nature and the power of
magic, to be able to invoke spirits,, to avert evil, to heal sick
ness, and to obtain the fulfillment of human wishes. These
men were held in high esteem among all Indians every
where, and acted in the capacity of both priests and physi
cians. Their medical knowledge, even if classed -with su
perstitious usages, is not to be despised, as they have large
acquaintance with healing herbs and the power of nature.
The virtues of the Indian race are well known to those who
truly know them; and their fidelity in keeping a promise,
their true hospitality, and their strength of mind under sor
row and suffering, merits the highest praise. They had no
other government nor governors but through their chiefs
and medicine men. The former had but little power and re
spect, only in their own individual character, and they
dreaded the loss of their popularity in their tribe. Thus
the Indian warrior was truly his own man, free and inde
pendent loathing all restraints.

What but sad forebodings can fill the souls of the feeble
few, when contemplating the past and looking to the future
walled up before them to that extent, that all action and
energy of their lives seem at an end and their only hope of
refuge in the grave?

But the peagant has fled, and the majority of those who
gave it such depth of interest to their destroyers have long
since passed away into humble and nameless yet honorable
graves, into which the living few, in vacant desolation, are
fast falling, bewildered and counfounded amid the toils that
have been skillfully and successfully spread for them; and
into which when fallen and hopelessly entangled, they ap
pealed to our mercy but to find it amy,th. Alas, whatacruel

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 33'

and inconsistent system has been practiced toward the Red
Race from the time we enticed them under our jurisdiction,
as wards, to the present day — a system, calculated in its
very nature to uncivilize rather than to civilize them, — de
stroying all confidence, all love and all respect; yea, stifling-
all the social affections of the heart and the generosity of
every noble sentiment; spreading devastation and desolation
among them — then to be cursed and pronounced a blotch
upon the fair face of nature, while we, influenced alone by"
that degrading venality, that acknowledges no^criterion but
success, closed the heart and hand of our charity against
them and shut our eyes on their woes — hearts, hands and
eyes never to be opened until the last of the race is extermi
nated, and there will be left no Indian possessions to excite
our avarice; and we be left to boast our achievements in ex
terminating a helpless people whom to conquer was coward
ice — the checkered features of whose prehistoric history are
vStill dimly shadowed in the memorials scattered around.

Yet their history, shorn as it is of its antique and ro
mantic features by the march of civilization of the White
Race with its accompanying vices and follies, which were pre
sented before them in proportion to its virtues as ten to one,
and thus rendered sad and mournful, is still interesting ;
and, I might justly add, instructive. But passing as theyr
have through many changes of a long pre-historic age, as
well as that of an imperfectly known history, the events of
their fortunes seem like the incidents of a fairy tale ; and
while we regard with admiration the many known traits of
their character, yet we can but be astonished that to so
many of them natural refinement supplied the external defi
ciencies of accomplished instruction denied by their situa-
. tion, while a sense of the proper, under every variety of cir—
1 cumstances, appeared intuitive ; and many of their names
and ^patriotic deeds are worthy of being transmitted to the
remotest posterity, accompanied by those honorable and
considerate epithets which flattery can never invest, and are
never deceitful ; and had they have had a written language,,
their native historians would have presented many things as
interesting and dramatic asxany of those of ancient or mod
ern renown. But as it is, they may be justly styled mar
tyrs — uncrowned .and uncanonized ; since they are still
known to-day to millions of the people of these United States un
der stereotyped appellation of "savages, "and to an equal num
ber of others, as "Heathen Barbarians ;" though the Indians
belong not to either department of that scientific knowledge
in which they have been enrolled by those whose extreme ig
norance is thus made manifest ; and who feel it an impera-

.34 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

tive duty to assume a countenance indicative of a holy horror
• and puerile fear at the very mention of the word Indian ; and
should they chance to meet one upon the high-way serious
convulsions would inevitably be the result ; while. others, of
.somewhat greater intrepidity, have beenknown to venture even
.into the presence of an Indian, their so-called devil incar
nate ; and, to display their imagined heroic daring, they
ipoint the finger of scorn at him and question concerning
him and his race in the language of ridicule and contempt
v(to which I have oft been an eye witness when passing
.through the Irfdian Territory) with that apparent instinct
^which makes one feel that humanity, at least that much of it
as professed by such ignorant and imbecile yet highly self-
conceited specimens of mortality, must be closly allied to
Darwin's progenitor of man ; and to whom the words of
Schiller are justly applicable — "Heaven and Earth was in
vain against a dunce."

Liberty, equality, and fraterntiy have ever been found
to be cardinal principles among the North American Indians,
from their first acquaintance with the White Race even to
the present day. All stood, and still stand upon the
same social level. No one regarded himself better, i'n any
manner whatever, than his neighbor; none turned up the lip
of scorn, or sneered at the misfortunes of one of his tribe.
The members of each tribe lived in perfect harmony to
gether, constituting, in every particular, one great, loving,
confiding brother-hood. The clan was the unit of political
and social life with all tribes. The individual was never con
sidered. Hence to insult, wrong or injure a member of a
tribe was actually to insult, wrong and injure the whole tribe;
thus each tribe held the other responsible for the actions of
its individual members according to the nature of the offence.
In like manner were also construed all favors. Hence when
a favor was bestowed upon any individual of a tribe, it was
accepted as bestowed upon each member of the tribe. (He
.who was a friend to one was regarded as equally a friend to
all, and as such was received into the confidence and friend
ship of the entire tribe. What feature in the characteristics
of any nation of people more commendable than this? Yet
they are charged as being in want of a single redeeming
trait of character.

Despotism, oppression, ' avarice, fraud, misrepresenta
tion in trade, were things absolutely unknown in all their
own tribal" relations, and in their dealings with neighboring
tribes. Therefore were they, at first, so easily swindled in
trade by unprincipled white men; since the white man hid the
defects of his article of trade tinder falsehoods, and the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 35

Indian openly exposed the defects of his in truth. Though it
was easy to cheat an Indian once, to accomplish it the second
time was a more difficult task. His confidence was gone
never again to be secured. I recollect a little incident of this
nature among the Choctaws when living east of the Mississip
pi river. A young Choctaw was cheated in a trade with a
white man, and when censured for making the trade, he
calmly replied: "Pale-face cheat me, me sorry; pale-face
cheat me twice, me big fool." After that as a matter of
course, he would never believe a word that a white man would
say.

Their tradition, always based on facts though abound
ing perhaps with many errors by misinterpretations and
corruptions, in the cycles of ages through which they have
passed, were no less dear to him, making a stainless history
such as few nations had, save in those pure days of yore
when men love truth, justice and honor more than gold; but
while all those ancient places are still thronged with tradi
tions, they are over grown with the weeds of popular fancy
like ruins of ancient castles covered with ivy; yet, the names
of some of them are still remembered by the aged Indians
and sometimes mentioned in their ancient traditions, but the
namesof theirpredecessors have completely disappeared from
their memories, and the time will never come in which these
secrets of the centuries will be remembered or ever known
again.

As aids to memory they used various devices, among
which belts of wampum were the chief. Wampum was truly
the archives of the tribe among all North American Indians.
It was made of dressed deer skin, soft and pliable as cloth,
and interwoven with various shells cut into uniform siz.e,
carefully polished, strung together and painted in different
colors, all of which were significant; white being the emblem
of peace and friendship; red, the symbol of hostility and war.
As the colors of the wampum were significant, so also were
the length and breadth of these belts, and also .the* peculiar
arrangements of the differently painted strings attached,
each and all fully understood by the Indians alone. A belt of
wampum was presented to one tribe by another as a remem
brance token of any important event that was communicated.
They had many and various kinds of wampum; some in the
form of belts of different breadth and length; some in strings
of various width and length, all reaching back in regular order
to centuries of the remote past, with an accuracy incredible
to the White Race.

The wampum was the Indians' history the chronicles of
the past; and the readers of each clan of the tribe, from one

36 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

\

generation to another, were carefully and thoroughly instruc
ted by their predecessors for that particular business and
were held in the highest esteem by all Indians everywhere.

Bundles of small round sticks were also used to assist
them in accurately keeping- the number of days that would
intervene between the day agreed upon that anything should
be done, and the day upon which the bundle had been pre
sented, one stick being drawn from the bundle at the termi
nation of each day and thrown away; which duty was never
forgotten nor neglected to be done by him to whom it was en
trusted. A long string was also used, having as many knots
tied in it as the number of days that were desired to be re
membered; at the close of each day, as the withdrawing of a
stick from the bundle, so a knot was untied. This custom
of using a string was also^practiced, it is said, by. 'the ancient
Persians, which is confirmed by Herodotus in his statement,
that "Darius gave to his allies a string with sixty knots tied
in it, and told them to untie one knot at the close of each day;
and, if he had not returned by the time the last one was un
tied, they could go home."

Pictures, rudely carved on rocks and trees, were used to
convey information, each figure being a true symbol under
stood and fully comprehended by the Indians wherever
seen.

, The Indians regarded their majestic forest trees with
emotional pride ; and, as they reclined under their broad ex
panding shades, they listened to their solemn whispers as
possessing a mysterious connection with themselves, and as
sharing with them their hopes and fears, their joys and sor
rows, and they grieved to see them fall before the ax of civil
ization ; since, between the Native American and the White
Race, who only saw lumber in the forest tree and money in
the lumber, there is the same difference existing that there
is between the man who hears the most refined music only
as a senseless noise-and him who hears it in messages of di
vine import to his soul ; thus it is that Nature bestows on
man only that which he is able to receive from her ; to one
lumber and the jingle of money ; to the other beauty and
harmony. Oft have I been an eye witness to the sensibility of
this people to the charms of natural objects, though accused
of its utter want : and with emotions of pleasure listened to
their expressive words of delight in admiration of the grand
and beautiful in nature, as they pointed the finger of unas-
sumed pride to their magnificent forests, and the majestic
appearance of the old patriarchs of their woods — seeming- to
be charmed with their grand forests, the beauty of their
flower bedecked prairies, the purity of their streams, the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 37

Brightness of their skies and the salubrity" of their climate.
To the peculiarly fascinating1 eharms of which, as they ap
peared to my admiring gaze seventy years ago in the ancient
domains of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, east of the Mis-
.sissippi river, I can testify from personal observation, as it
.also was the home of my birth ; nor can time nor distance
-ever erase from memory their grandeur and beauty ; and,
to-day, their seeming power is exercised over me in calling
up the reveries and picturings of the past clothing reality
with the illusions of the memory and imagination. But to
many, nature, in her primitive grandeur, is but an indiffer
ent beauty, though she stops to smile, to caress and enter
tain with exhaustless diversion her admiring and loving
wooer.

So to the Indian also, the grandeur and beauty of his
ancient forests left a memory which abides as a constant
source of gratification, as he reflects upon their natural
beauty upon which his eyes so oft had rested, and from
which his soul had gathered a noble conception of the sym
phonies from which it drew its pure aspirations ; .and truly,
no one who has any conception of the grand and beautiful,
-could have gazed upon the outstretched panorama of their
forests as presented in their ancient domains, without being
lastingly impressed with the marvelous picture, in which
there stood forth most striking beauties in the form of ma
jestic trees and green swards, on whose bosoms rested, in
gentle touch, most inviting shades free of all under-growth
of bushes but covered with luxuriant grass interspersed
with innumerable flowers of great variety, rivaling the most
beautiful flower garden of art. Never have I witnessed
any thing more grand and impressive than the Mississippi
forests presented when left by the Choctaws and Chicka
saws as an inheritance .to the Whites. Then and there na
ture, in all% her diversified phases, from the finite to the in
finite, and from the infinitessimal to the grand aggregate of
knowledge, was full of instruction ; by which she would
teach man his duty to his God, to his fellow man and to him
self. But alas, how few ever heed the symbolic whispers of
her low, sweet voice !

It was truly a vast wilderness of trees entirely free of
all undergrowth except grass with that peculiar stillness
that attested the absence of man, and possessing a vastness
and boundless extent, ' and uninterrupted contiguity of
shade, which prevented the attention from being distracted,
.and allowed the mind to the solitude of itself, and the imagi
nation to realize the actual presence and true character of
that which burst upon it like a vivid dream. Truly that is

38 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

*.

happiness that breaks not the link between man and nature.
The Indians of this continent openly acknowledged and
sincerely believed in the One Great and Good Spirit, and also
in the One Great and Evil Spirit; to the former they gave
divine homage with a devotion that well might put to shame
many of those who have lived, a life time under the light of
the Gospel dispensation, with scarcely a devotional emotion.
Towards the latter they cherished the greatest fear and dread
and sought continually the aid of the Good Spirit in averting
the dreaded machinations of the Evil Spirit, therefore every
warrior had his totem; i. e. a little sack filled with various
ingredients, the peculiarities of which were a profound
secret to all but himself; nor did any Indian ever seek or de
sire to know the contents of another's totem, it was sacred to
its possessor alone. I have more than once asked some
particular warrior friend concerning the contents of his
totem but was promptly refused- with the reply: "You would
not be any the wiser thereby." Every warrior kept his
Totem or "Medicine" about his person, by which he sincere
ly believed he would be enabled to secure the aid of the Good
Spirit in warding off the evil designs of the Evil Spirit, in the
existence of which they as sincerely believed, and to whom
they attributed the cause of all their misfortunes, when fail
ing to secure the aid of the Good Spirit. Therefore, each
and every warrior of the tribe., with eager zeal, endeavored to
put himself in direct communication with the Great and
Good Spirit. There was but little difference between the
"Indian Magician" and the Indian "Medicine Man," but
when a. warrior had attained to that high and great!}' desired
point of direct communication with the Great and Good
Spirit, and had impressed that belief upon his tribe as well as
himself, he at once became an object of great veneration, 'and
was henceforth regarded by all his tribe, regardless of
age or sex, as a ' great "Medicine Man," upon whom
had been conferred supernatural powers to foretell
coming events, to exorcise evil spirits, and to perform
all kinds of marvelous works. But few attained the
coveted eminence; yet he who was so fortunate, at once
reached the pinnacle of his earthly aspirations. But before
entering upon his high and responsible duties, and assuming
the authority of a diviner — a graduated Medicine Man, in
other words, with a recognized and accepted diploma, he
must also have enlisted in his service one or more lesser
spirits, servants of the Great and Good Spirit, as his allies or
mediators, and to secure these important and indispensable
auxiliaries, he must subject himself to a severe and testing
ordeal. He now retires alone into the deep solitudes of his

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 39'

native forest and there engages in meditation, self examina
tion, fasting- and prayer during the coming and going of
many long and weary days, and even weeks. And all that for
what end? That he might, by his supernatural power thus
attained, be enabled to gratify his ambition in playing the
tyrant over his people through fear of him? Or that he might
be enabled the better to gratify the spirit of avarice that
rankled in his heart? Neither, for both tyrant and avarice
were utterly unknown among, all Indians.

What then? First, that he might ever be enabled, by
his influence attained with the great and Good Spirit, toward
off the shafts of the Evil Spirit, and thus protect himself from
seen and unseen dangers, and also be successful in the ac
complishment of all his» earthly hopes and wishes. *

Second. That he might be a benefactor to his tribe, by
being enabled to divine future events, and thus forewarn
them of approaching danger and the proper steps to take to.
successfully avoid it; also to heal the sick, , etc. True, the
fearful ordeal of hunger, thirst, fatigue wrought their part
in causing his imagination to usurp the place of reason, fill
ing his fevered mind with the wildest hallucinations and
rendering him a fit subject to believe anything and every
thing. Yet, no doubt, when he left his place of prayer and
self-examination and returned to his people, he sincerely be
lieved that he had been admitted to the special favor of the
great and Good Spirit and was fully prepared to exercise his-
newly acquired supernatural attainments for his own bene
fit and to the interest of his tribe. Smile not at this, per
haps, to you, seeming folly of one who thought, reasoned and
acted as taught by the feeble light of nature alone ; with
•such a devotional spirit, what would he have been if enlight
ened by the renovating influences of the precepts of the Son
of God ? But I ask, if this doctrine of the spiritual world, the-,
disembodied spirits of our departed loved ones everywhere
about us, and the power of communication with them, has
not sprung into new life among us in this boasted enlightened
age illumined, by the glorious light of the Bible shining
around us for centuries past ? though the doctrine was dis
carded by the Indians at once and forever, so soon as the
light of the Bible shone into their untutored minds. But
alas, we still speak of them as savages and barbarians ; yet
should not emotions of shame fill our hearts, when the simi
larity of belief between the unlettered" Indians of seventy-
five years ago, and the boasted intelligence and Christian
civilization of the "Anglo Saxon" of the present day, is so
manifest? Need we try to deny that modern Spiritualism

-40 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

its counterpart in the philosophy 'of the ^North Ani'erican
Jndians of three-quarters of a century ^ag-p?;; .: ;• .

May we justly scorn the Indian wtie&'iiot free ourselves
of his , ancient superstitious follies, ; btit^tilf hz£v$ : so large
4 portion, thoug-h long- discarded by the civilized tribes, se
cretly -hidden away in the strata of our boasted common
,sense, besides being greatly tinctured with the fashionable
skepticism (unknown to all Indians) of the present civilized
but fearfully corrupt age ?

The Indians reasoned from the known to the unknown
-differing from us only in that they had no accumulated
knowledge to guide them but their traditions. And when
we take into consideration the great difficulties with which
Ihey had to contend and overcome in the struggle up the
nigged hill of civilization and Christianity, as presented to
vthem with all their manifested contradictions and enigmas
by the ''Pale-faces," it is. a matter of profound astonishment
that they have achieved as much as they have.

Alas, that our universal error, in all our dealings with
that people, should consist in the deplorable yet inexcusable
failure to perceive how greatly their ideas differed from our
own in regard to every thing appertaining to our civilization,
Christianity and love of gain ; and at the same time forget
ting that the idea of civil government was with us of long and
slow growth, takin'g many ages to develop us from our own
ignorant and savage ancestry to our present enlightened
state ; and how greatly to be regretted is the fact, that our
feelings and actions are still so influenced and governed by
deplorable ignorance of the true nature and characteristics
of the Indian, and so swayed by a foolish prejudice against
him, and so led captive by self-conceit and imagined superi
ority over him by nature, that we do not and will not justly
and impartially weigh the evidence before us ; through fear,
it truly seems, that our preconceived opinions may be proved
to be formed in error, if tested by the knowledge of the truth
that would be gained by investigation.

The' Indian is accused of stolidity. Wherefore? Is it
because he can and does control his tongue when the white
man would fly into a violent passion? Is it because the Indian
.never speaks evil of any one, not even of a personal enemy,
.but keeps his thoughts and opinions of others in the secret
recesses of his own breast, while the reverse is an innate
•characteristic of the White Race? Is it because the Indian
has learned never to talk to the purpose of what is not the
purpose to talk of, but in which the white man has long since
proved himself an adept to the entire satisfaction of himself
and all man-kind? If all this, seemingly so mysterious to his

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 41

•defamers who' would search earth and heaven to find an
.accusation/against an Indian, merits- the title Stolidity, then
indeed is the Indian meritorious, and that is/the whole of it
in- a'li'u't "shell.

He has also been ridiculed as being" an idiot for carrying"
with him his mystic Medicine-pouch, and relying- on it for
safety both in seen and unseen dangers. Yet in this how
little did he^ differ from thousands of the White Race of even
today with all their professed culture, among whom there
can still be detected a foolish superstition, a lingering1 sur
vival of Fetchism, for it can be nothing- else. See the still
lingering belief in Witchcraft and magic charms; behold the
horse shoe still nailed over the door as a guarantee to "good
luck" and the prevention of injury from the >jnidnight ca
rousals of witches; view the stig-ma placed upon the *good
names of one of the days of the week — unfortunate Friday!
Contemplate the Charm-string- composed of various childish
g-ew-gaws dangling from the watch-chain of the empty and
unbalanced head of the "pale-face" dude, and also its counter
part around the neck of the empty-headed little Miss of
"sweet sixteen"! Think of the harmless little bug snugly
ensconced in a crack of the wall humming its lulla-by in token
of its happiness yet is stigmatized with the appellation of
"Death-watch," the fore-runner of the grim monster so
much feared and dreaded by frail humanity, and many more
that might be mentioned! What are all these but a lingering
spirit of superstition, legitimate offsprings Fetishism, and
differing in nothing from the Indian's totem. Yet. the
Indian is regarded as meriting condemnation in this world
.and damnation in the next because he still adheres, in. some
few instances where the truths of the Bible have never
reached him, to his ancient superstitious belief and so-called
.savage folly, but the white man,, cradled in the. lap of Chris
tianity and yet carrying secretly in his -breast his totems,
verily, might not the reproving language of Saul to Bar Jesus
be justly applied to us in all our dealing with the Red .Race
from the Alpha to the Omega? — ,"O, full of .all subtlety, and
all mischief, thou child of the devil, tftou enemy of all
righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways
•of the Lord?" / , '.,'*,

^ Again: The Indians' passion for war, so erroneously
proverbial among us, has ever been shamefully exaggerated.
True, their passion for war, when engaged in it for the re
dress of real or imaginary wrongs, was unequalled : and, in
defense of their country has few parallels in the history of
nations, of which we have the full attestation of experience ;
though we fought. them, taking all things into consideration,

42 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

the advantages of fifty to one. But they seldom made war
upon each other actuated alone by the motives of ambitious
conquests for national or personal aggrandizement, as far as
has been ascertained from actual proof. They had no' mo
tive for such a war, as it is well known to all who have at
tained any true knowledge of the North American Indians
worthy of notice, since avarice, in a national or personal point
of view with all its baneful consequences, was utterly un
known to the ancient Indians of this continent, as it is to this
day to their pnre blooded descendants. Their desperation
in resisting- our encroachments upon their rights gave birth
to the false charge that "they are a blood-thirsty race de
lighting in human gore ;" but there is no proof basedv upon
truth that they are meritorious to a greater extent than any
other race of mankind to bear such reproach. Nor were
their tactics of war, so loudly condemned by us, any more
irreconcilable to justice and humanity, than our own. We
stigmatize them writh the name of "cowards" for limiting-
their fighting to ambuscade and surprise ; and which we, if
out-witted and defeated in a battle wTith them, pronounced,
with assumed horror, a "cruel massacre ;" yet, truth posi
tively declares that we too have adopted equally with them
the ambuscacle, the surprise, and every art of war known to
us to out-general them in cunning, in treachery, and in de
ceit; but call it, if we succeed, "a glorious military strate
gy," as if that would^make it appear more honorable or
justifiable in the sight of truth, justice and humanity or that
of a just God. Absolute necessity compelled the Indians to
resort to ambuscade and surprise in their wars with us-, on
account of our vast superiority over them in numbers, skill,
and instruments of warfare. What hope of success could
they entertain by coming out in the open field with ^en
feeble bows and arrows and few worthless old guns,, and
stand up before our deadly rifles and destructive batteries £
They would simply have acted the part of fools in so doing.
They fought as best they could, and just as we, or any other
people, would have fought under similar circumstances.

We charge them with deception and being full of all man
ner of hypocrisy in all places and at all times, even in the
social and business relations of life. A more false charge
was never made against anyone; and it is but one among the
thousands that have been unjustly used in justification of
robbing them of their country and wiping them out as cum-
berers of the ground, wrholly unfit any longer to inhabit the
earth. •

Who ever heard of the Indians adulterating their food
with poisonous ingredients to add a dime more-to their gains?

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 43-

Who ever heard of them adulterating- their medicines, thus
endangering- life to make a nickel more? Who ever heard of
them banding tog-ether to oppress the poor of their own race
by buying- up certain articles of food or medicine and hold
ing it to extort a higher price from the needy, and thus add
a few more cents to their own coffers? And yet we see fit
to falsely charge the Indians with deception and hypocrisy.
But to misrepresent in all that is said or written about'the
Red Race is an axiom of long standing. As an illustration^
Ridpath, in his ''History of the United States" — page 45,
says:

"But the Red Man was, at his best estate, an unsocial, sol
itary and gloomy spirit. He was a man of the woods. He
sat apart. Tfre forest was better than the village." Let
others speak that it may be known how near the above de
lineation of the Red Man's characteristics, as exhibited by
the glare of imagined erudition, throws its light to the line
of truth according to the positive declarations of the -early
writers who visited the Indians; and the missionaries who-
first preached the Gospel of the world's Redeemer to them.
All, everywhere, and among all Indians back to the Pilgrims
oi 1620, affirm that the tribes everywhere lived in separate
districts, in which each had numerous large and permanent
towns and villages, and were the most social, contented and
happy people they ever knew. La Salle, the renowned
French explorer, states that he found numerous towns and
villages everywhere. He affirms that the Indians lived in
comfortable cabins of great proportions, in some cases, forty
feet square with dome-shaped roofs, in which several fami
lies lived. De Soto, in his memorable raid through the ter
ritories of the Southern Indians in 1541-42, found towns and
villages containing "from fifty to three hundred houses,
protected by palisades, walls and ditches filled with water;"
it is also stated, "every few miles he found flourishing towns
and villages." So also, the early explorers of the head
waters of the Mississippi river found the Indians every
where dwelling in towns and villages: "The houses being-
framed wfth poles and covered with bark."

Lewis and Clark, when exploring the waters of the Col
umbia River in 1805, under the auspices of the United Sates
Government, found the Indians in the valley of the Columbia
living in villages in which there were many large houses.
They mention some capable of "furnishing habitations for
five hundred people." The Iroquois, whose territories lay
along the southern border's of the Great Lakes, Erie and
Ontario, when visited by the Jesuit priests and French
traders in 1771, were found dwelling in large towns and

44 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. .

, . • ••' .v.- . .• . . .. ,

'/villages^ some of which- are described as having- "120 houses,
• many of them from 50 to ^60 feet in length, and affording am
ple room and' shelter for twelve or fifteen- families." , The
Indians 'of the Atlantic Stages were settled in permanent
towns and villages. The Pokanokets, Narragansets, Pe-
quods, and others, as stated by early writers, lived in towns-
and, villages. The missionaries, when they established
,Ghirstain missions among the Cherokees in 1815, the Choc-
taws in 1818, and Chickasaws in 1821, found them living in
prosperous towns and villages scattered from two to six miles
apart all over their then vast territories, and to which I testify
from actual, personal knowledge; and. no people with whom I
was ever acquainted, or of whom I ever read, exhibited more
real social virtues, true contentment and genuine social
happiness than they; yet Ridpath's doleful and stereotyped
edition of misrepresentation and ignorance says: "But the
Red Man was, at his best estate, an unsocial, solitary, and
gloomy spirit. He communed only with himself and the
genius of solitude. He sat apart; the forest was better than
the village." •# .

The six nations, to whom the French gave the name Iro-
quois(Longhouses) were composed of the Senecas, Cayugas,
Onandagas, Oneidas, Mohawks and Tuscaroras, inhabiting
the northern part of the continent, and the Choctaws; Chick-
saws, Cherokees, Muscogees, Semiiioles, Natchez and Ya-
masas, living in the southern part and known at an early day
as the Mobela Nations, presented, no doubt, the highest
type of the North American Indians, and were unsurpassed
in, point of native eloquence, unalloyed patriotism, and heroic
bravery, by any ancient or modern race of people, civilized
or uncivilized ; in friendship faithful and true, in war not
safe or comfortable to encounter ; and whose highest bliss
was found in national independence and absolute personal
freedom from all restraint whatever ;' and of whose ancient
history, if only known, it might truthfully be said, would be
stranger and more interesting than the "most thrilling fic
tion ; abounding with hidden romances of which the civilized
•\vorkl never conjectured or even dreamed, if we may judge
from the little that has escaped oblivion. The Iroquois, and
the six Nations of the North have long since disappeared be
fore the White Race as autumnal leaves before the wintry
winds, except with here and there a few lonely wanderers
who, like ghosts, still hover around the graves of their ances
tors, feeblesparksyetlingeringiiitheashesof an exterminated
race. The Natchez and Yamases of the Mobela Nations
have also long since passed through the same ordeal, and
Ichabod is written upon their urns with thousands of others

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 45

of. their unhappy race ; ;while a few still linger to justly re
buke our cruelty and avarice.

They know that they only can learn the; present through
the memory of the blood-stained past; that temple from
which posterity draws its lessons of. human life; yet they are
not ashamedxof their past; or do they undervalue it, but
advocate, as they have many, long years before, the great
brotherhood of man; and still hope and expect, as in the years
of the long past, great things from Christianity and intellect
ual culture;. though oft have been doomed to that ^bitter dis
appointment which so loudly and justly rebukes and con
demns that prejudice still cherished so bitterly but unjustly
against them by the White Race, ,and so difficult to be
reconciled to its published professions of Christian attain
ments, too deep for them or any other people, to understand
or even : rightly conjecture. But the question naturally
arises, Why are they still distrusted by us? Is it because
they still honor their past which they can never renounce nor
forget as a brave and patriotic people? Must we forever hate
them and eternally make them the subjects of our ridicule
and contempt because, forsooth, they will not repudiate the
memory of their ancient line of ancestry to them as honor
able as to us is our own? And though self respect is all that
we have left to them, except a few acres of begrudged land,
do we now demand and expect them to so far forget them
selves and to stoop so lowr in the scale of humanity as to
adopt voluntarily, the impious and degrading estimate put
upon them by the unprincipled of our own race, who through
ignorance and prejudice have misjudged them? Then know
we not the North American Indian; nor will our demand or
expectation ever be realized.

We may exterminate them as we have millions of their
race, for we have the power to do so ; but we never can co
erce them to voluntarily place a degrading estimate upon
themselves. Never. I have heard the charge over and over
again ^made against them, that they would stop the progress
of the white man's civilization and the religion of Jesus
Christ among them if they could. Without fear or favor, Ix
here denounce the charge as a falsehood, begat by the devil,
born in the regions of eternal night, thence escaped to find
lodgement in the hearts of its miserably degraded author,
and his congenial spirits, the foul mouthed promulgators ;
and into their teeth I fearlessly hurl it back. But I freely
admit, if the "white man's civilization and the white man's
Christianity" is meant the grim visage of infidelity with its
abominable train of liberalism, socialism, secularism, nihi
lism, spiritualism, and whiskeyism with their legitimate

46 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

children, saloonism and baudy-houseism, and all other devil
ish isms presented in the white man's Christian civilization
(so-called), they want none of it ; anp in proof of which they
have warred, and still war and will ever continue to war
ag-ainst the foul brood, be they ever so protective to the
white man's "Personal Liberty ;" or ever so dearly cher
ished by him, as among- the brig-htest lig-hts along- the horizon
of his modern and advanced civilization. But let Christ's
glorious Christianity and civilization, as it was presented to
them eighty years ago in their ancient domains east of the
Mississippi river by the pure minded, devoted, self-sacrific
ing1, God approved missionaries, whose God-like teaching's,
both by precept arid example, have been handed down by
that g-eneration to this, (of whom many old Choctaws of that
day have frequently spoken to me during my sojourn among-
them, during- the last five or six years, and as often drew the
contrast between the white mail's religion of those days and
the white man's religion of to-day, the g-enuine fruits of
which are so manifest) be rudely assailed or imperilled, and
every warrior, old and young-, would at once rise as one man
in its defense, and freely give their lives as sacrificial offer
ings upon the altar of its protection. They had long- walked
in darkness, but they have seen the light as it shone in the
daily life, conversation, and actions, of those old heralds of
the' Cross, who came to them in their ancient domains, four
score years ag-o, as messeng-ers of the Son of God, proclaim
ing- Peace Good and Will to them. But they would see greater
lig-ht and know more of that lig-ht ; therefore, they who
charg-e them with a hankering to still return to the customs
of their ancestors, though in many respects more to be de
sired than the isms and degrading vices of the white man's
modern civilization as presented to them, can lay no just
claim to the right of judging or estimating the merits, or
demerits of any one, as they measure every thing by the
standard of their own imbecility so manifest to all.

There is today, and has ever been, as much talent found
among- the true Native Americans as among the Americans,
,or ever was found in any race of uneducated people; and the
Indian is naturally as much of a religious being as the wh'ite
man, yea, to a greater degree, which is fully sustained by his
more faithful adherence and unassumed" devotion to his
newly adapted religion, as taught him by the missionary of
the Gospel, than are we with all of our fine churches and
noisy professions. The Sabbath day is reg-arded with much
more reverence, and observed with greater emotions of un-
feig-ned devotion, yet we call him a savage. Long- before the
light of the Gospel illuminated the mind of the Indian, and

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 47

the knowledge of his own dignity and destiny had dawned
upon^his understanding, his reason taught him a belief in the
existence of a Superior Being whose wisdom and goodness he
saw, acknowledged and reverenced in every leaf and flower
that adorned the earth; in the rising and setting of the sun;
in the storm of night and the calm of day. But the mis
sionary came, and the Gospel of the Son of God then erected
his alter among them and shed the benign influences of her
oracles over them, leading their understanding from the
intellectual darkness of that long starless night that had
, brooded over them during ages untold. Great indeed must
be the reward in heaven for those men and women of God
who carried the Bread of Eternal Life to the southern Indians
of this continent, over three quarters of a century ago; when
civilization and Christianity had never before found lodge
ment, and Nature was presented in all her seemingly new
ness of life, unchanged by the handi-work of man. The
pride of ancestry may be just; to rehearse the deeds of illus
trious predecessors may by laudable; but they, who devote
life to the Glory of God and the benefit of the;r fellow men
are truly the ones that make life illustrious and the grave
glorious; for when time had silvered their heads with gray,
and the summons came that bade them go hence; then it was
their good deeds lighted up the gloom of the grave and
soothed and softened the pangs of dissolution; and when
they have long slumbered in the citv of the silent, yea, when
every trace of the unhappy Indian shall have been wiped out
and forgotten in the oblivion of the past, still will the mem
ory of their labors of love live, and their monuments be in
scribed with characters of imperishable fame. Years hence,
when the inquisitive shall ask what manner of people were
the fallen and exterminated race of North American conti
nent, and inquire concerning those who enlightened the
minds that only here and there have left a monument of their
independence, will some venerable patriarch point to the
catalogue of renowned names, who disseminated the Gospel
and the light of learning among the primitive inhabitants of
the North American continent. But the question naturally
arises here, will the mighty tide of humanity, now flowing
like a great river into and over our country, bear to future
posterity our virtues or our vices, our glory or our shame?
Will the moth of inmorality and the vampire of luxury trans
mit, as an inheritance, their natural results to our future
posterity, and ultimately prove the overthrow of our Govern
ment, or shall our knowledge and virtue, as pillars of rock,
support them against the whirlwind of ambition and corrup
tion now overspreading the land? The little insect intrud-

48 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

ing" upon our path is despised and wantonly crushed; yet
united, they have destroyed nations and depopulated cities.
"Coming- events" cease not to "cast their shadows before.'*
The North American Indians, in symmetry of form,
seemed perfect men and women ; all were straight and
erect ; the men, of a proud, independent and manly bearing-,
with sinewy form that denoted great strength, agility and
fleetness ; with dark complexion, resolute, yet quiet in ex
pression, except when ag-itated by emotion ; frank in de
meanor, and always courteous, never* meeting you without a
grave but polite and cheerful salutation ; and whose confi
dence was not a sudden spark that shone for a moment then
went out, but endured through life unless betrayed, then
was never more regained, nor was their hatred impulsive
but fixed in their judgment and their thoughts rather than
in their passing feelings. And what is said of the charac
teristics of the men, as men, so it may be said equally of the
women, as women. Their traditions, which form the con
necting link between truth and romance, throw but a glim
mering light, as before stated, upon the unwritten history
of their past, which has so long been forgotten, as well as
upon their ancient habits and customs, of which there can be
no reliable information, therefore all must be left to conject
ure. But I came in possession of many traditions seemingly
to founded more -in truth than in fiction, as I oft sat
among the Choctaws and Chickasaws in youth and early
manhood and listened with romantic emotions to the narra
tions of the aged, whose plurality of years had consigned
them to the retired list of warriors, as unable longer to en
dure the hardships and dangers that begirt the war-path
and the chase, and thus acquired much concerning their
past history, not to be found inbooks, of which I wrill
more fully speak in their proper place.

But alas, that the writings of so many of their White
historians (so-called) seemingly throug-h ignorance or preju
dice, or both, should contain more fiction than truth, and dif
fuse more error than true information concerning this pecu
liar and so poorly comprehended race of people ; hence it
may be truly affirmed that there is no race of people that
now exists upon the earth, or has ever existed, of whom -so-
much has 'been said and written, yet of whom the world has
been taught less true knowledge and correct information
than of the North American Indians. But it should not be,
perhaps, a matter of very great surprise that the majority
of the writers of the present day, especially the sensational
newspaper correspondents, as many of their predecessors of
years ago, should give prejudiced accounts of this people ;

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 49

since it is plainly manifest, when taken into just considera
tion, that they are1 utterly ig-norant of the subject offered for
their contemplation, yet fail to see their incapacity , since
the ingredients are pure and have given abundant and unmis
takable proof of their many-valuable qualities ; therefore, as a
natural result, are lost to the blind observers whose compo
sitions, regarding the unfortunate Indians, are made up of
equal parts (well mixed) of self-conceit, ignorance, duplicity
and falsehood ; which, in their very nature, so utterly dis
qualify them of judging- bevond the surface of anything ex
cept self ; but seem extravagantly delighted when they have
struck a new vein of precious metal in the mine of falsehood
against the unoffending Indians, and foolishly imagine it has
stamped them •with a wisdom higher than man's, though dif
ficulties arise in the minds of a majority from a failure to so
comprehend it. Still it is diverting to see them strut about
after a safe delivery, as if they were at the head of a new
dispensation and waiting for unknown converts to kneel and
pay homage to their imagined greatness.

It is a universally admitted that the color of the Indians
is peculiar to themselves, and though some affirm that they
have discovered indications of a Tartar origin in their cheek
bones, others assert that their eyes do not justify the affir
mation. Their manner of life may have exerted", perhaps,
some influence in regard to color, but it would be a difficult
matter to satisfactorily -explain how it coult have produced
the great difference that is so plainly manifest in
that of the eyes. Still it is affirmed that "'their imagery,,
bpth. poetry and oratory, is Oriental, though suffering by the
limited extend of th-ear practical knowledge." Their
metaphors were drawn from nature, the seasons, the clouds,
the storms, the mountains, birds and beast, and the vegetables
world. Yet in this, they only did what all other races of the
human family have done, whose bounds to fancy were
governed by experience. They also clothed their ideas in.
Oriental dress. They expressed a phrase in a word, and
qualified the signification of a whole sentence by a syllable;:
and also conveyed different significations by the simplest
inflections of the voice. Some philologists affirm that among
all the North American Indians who once inhabited this con-
tinent,^ ''there are, properly speaking, but two or three
languages," and the difficulty which different tribes ex
perience in understanding each other, is attributed to the
corruptions in dialects. This may seem more plausible
from the following incident. Shortly after the Choctaws
.were removed from their ancient domains east of the Mis-
sissippi River to their present places of abode, a small tribe

50 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

of strange Indians was discovered occupying- a portion of
their western territory, now the Chickasaw Nation. A party
of Choctaws, under the command of Peter P. Pitchlynn,
was sent out to ascertain who they were . When the dele
gation arrived at one of the villages of the unknown tribe,
they were totally unable to communicate with them only
through the sign language, so well understood by all the
Indians, and them alone. However, it was soon observed
that the villagers, in conversation with each other, used a
few words that were decidedly of Choctaw origin, and now
and then one or more purely Chactaw words. This but in
creased the interest of the now deeply interested delegates.
Upon further investigation by means of the sign-language,
It-was ascertained that the name of the little tribe of stran
gers wasBaluhchi, a pure Choctaw word, signifying hickory-
bark (formerly used by the Choctaws in making ropes and
whips when peeled from the hickory bush in the spring). It
was also learned that they originally came from a country, to
their pleasant place of abode, that lay beyond the "Big
Waters," and this was all that could be learned concerning
them. Being anxious to ascertain something more definite,
the delegates, upon further inquiry, learned that there lived
in another village a few miles distant, an aged man who was
formerly their chief but owing to his advanced age he no
longer acted in that capacity, but was regarded by the tribe
as their national Seer or Prophet. To him the delegation
immediately went, and found to their agreeable surprise that
tlie venerable old patriarch, for such he truly was, could speak
the Choctaw language fluently. He corroborated the state
ment of the villagers in regard to the migration, and also
claimed that he and his tribe were Choctaws. When asked,
How long since he left his people east of the "Big Waters,"
he replied: "Long ago, when a little boy," and further
stated that he was the only survivor of the little company
that had wandered away years ago from the parent stock.
JBut to fully test the matter, he was questioned as to the
name of the Choctaw Iksas (Clans) and their ruling chiefs at
the time of his boyhood and the departure of the company to
£he far west. He readily gave the name of several clans and
^heir then ruling chiefs, together with the names of the clan
(Baluhchi) to which his parents belonged; also many memor
able incidents connected with the Choctaws in his boyhood
together with the general features and outlines of their
territory. All of which was known to be true. 'The test
was satisfactory. The delegates returned; made their re
port, and the Choctaw Nation at once received its long wan
dering prodigals into its paternal embrace, and without

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 51

hesitation took them into full fellowship as children of one
and the same family. About fifty families of this once lost
clan, numbering- about two hundred souls still survive, with
a few of whom I am personally acquainted. The little band,
I was informed, still adheres to the ancient customs of their
Clan with that tenacity peculiar to the North American
Indians alone, but has returned to the use of the Choctaw
language proper.

Here then, in this little band of strayed Choctaws, who
had wandered from the parent stock scarcely a century be
fore, is found a case in which their language had become so
blended or mixed with that of the languages of other adjoin
ing tribes, and thereby so corrupted and changed as not to
be understood by their own people from whom they had
wandered but a generation or two before. The ancient
Baluhchi Clan of Choctaws was first made known to the
whites by La Salle, who visited them on his voyage of dis
covery down the Mississippi River in 1682, and to which I
will again refer.

Fenimore Cooper, in reference to the sign-language of
the North American Indians, says, he was present at an in
terview between two chiefs of the western plains, and when
an interpreter was present who spoke both languages of
the two different tribes to which the two chiefs respectively
belonged. The two warrior chiefs appeared to be on the
most friendly terms, and apparently conversed much togeth
er; yet, according to the affirmation of the interpreter, each
was absolutely ignorant of what the other said .in his native
tongue. Their tribes were hostile to each other, but these
two chiefs had accidentally been brought together by the in-'
fluence of the Government ; and it is worthy of remark that
a common policy influenced them both to adopt the same
subject. They mutually exhorted each other to befriend
the one the other in the event that the chance of war should
throw either of them in the hands of his enemies.

But whatever may be the truth as respects the root and
the genius of the Indian tongue, it is quite evident they are
now so remote in their words as to possess most of the dis
advantages of strange languages ; hence, much of the em
barrassment that has arisen in learning their history, and
most of the uncertainty which exists in their traditions.

The North American Indians conform to rule as rigidly
as any nation of people that ever existed. They regulated
their whole conduct in conformity to some general maxims
implanted in their minds in their youthful days. The moral
laws by which they were governed were few, 'tis true.
Butthey conformed toall of them most rigidly ; while our moral

52 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

laws are many by which we assume to be governed, yet we
frequently violate them with little compunction of conscience
when conflicting' with our real or imaginary interests. We
accuse the Indians of stoicism and habitual taciturnity, with
out studying- their characteristics; but if we had
'only informed ourselves, we would have learned that they
are more firmly linked to us by mutual sympathies and affec
tions than we have ever even imagined. But why do the In
dians appear taciturn and unsocial to us ? Because we
have, from first to last, manifested toward them an uncon
cealed coldness, indifference, distrustfulness bordering
largly on contempt ; and never with that confidence, frank
ness and sincerity which are so indispensable to g-enuine love
and true friendship. Let a little group of Indians be at a
railroad station on the arrival of 'a passenger train. See the
rush to the platform and the circle formed around them ;
hear the remarks of attempted wit made about them and the
laug-h of ridicule, as they stare at them as if they were a
group of wild beasts, yet assuming themselves to be a people
remarkable for their strict adherence to the rules and regu
lations of politeness ! What feelings must pervade the In
dians' breasts but emotions .of manifold pity and mingled
contempt for such an ill-mannered set, who profess so much
yet display so little of common sense ! Who, with any de
gree of justice, can blame the Indians for manifesting their
wisdom and good sense by keeping themselves aloof from
the company of the self-conceited and scornful, whose moral
worth and . highest attainments begin and end seemingly
with the nronkey ? and, as a natural consequence, can exhibit
no other disposition when in the presence of one or more In
dians than that of gratifying an ignorant curiosity in behold
ing the so-called "red devils, red skin, Indian bucks," appel
lations having their origin in the depraved hearts of as cor
rupt and reckless specimens of humanity as ever cursed a
land or county, and are a foul blot upon the fair face of na
ture, and the language of whose hearts is "justice, truth,
honor, mercy, humanity depart from us, we desire not the
knowledge of thy ways." Thus, in all our intercourse with
this unfortunate race of people, we have exhibited, in the
majority of instances, every disposition toward them that
was calculated to drive them far from even the sight of us,
and to stamp indelibly upon their hearts the belief that our
only desire is, and ever has been, to dispossess them. of their
hereditary possessions ; and in which they are wholly con
firmed by reading our publications in which we portray them
as "red devils, red skins, blood-thirsty savages, Indian
bucks," thus seemingly to attempt to justify ourselves, by

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 53

our calumniating- epithets, in our cruelties and outrages upon
them without any respect to their claims upon truth, justice,
mercy and humanity whatever ; and also, that they have no
rights when conflicting1 with ours, but must succumb any
where and everywhere to the nod of our interest be it at
their sacrifice what it may ; therefore we continue, as we
have done for centuries past, to execute our verdict pro
nounced against them from the beginning: "It is easier and
less expensive to exterminate the Indians, than to obey the
mandates of the Son of God in attempting to Christianize
them." Said an old chief: "We've been driven back until
we can retreat no farther ; our tomahawks have none to wield
them ; our bows have none to shoot them ; our council fires
are nearly burned out ; soon the white man will cease tooppress
and persecute us, for we will have perished and gone from
the earth." Thus have their expectations ..darkened into
anxiety, their anxiety into dread, their dread into despair
and their despair into death.

„ Never in the history of man has the extermination of a
people been more complete than that of the North American
Indians within the last two and a half centuries. To the
query, "Where are they"? Echo but responds, "Where"?
Alas! all have disappeared from their ancient abodes, and
hundreds .of tribes have long since ceased to exist as
nations, the majority not even leaving a name behind them;
and even the former homes ^of the hapless remaining few
refuse to acknowledge the feeble exiles but as vile intruders,
while the names of mountains, hills and streams are all that
remain as testimonials of their former occupancy, even as
solitary heaps of drift-wood left far from the channel of the
river bear testimony to the extent of its inundation. And to
the query, Where are they? The best reply may be found
in a book bearing the title "Shank's Report On Indian
Frauds," made March 3d, 1873, -to the 420 Congress, 3d,-
Session,. in the management of Indian Affairs. It is as
follows: "In 250 years we have wasted their numbers from
2,500,000" (nearer the truth would be, 20,500,000) "down to
250,000 or a waste of. a number equals to all their children
born to them in the last 250 years, and 2, 250,000, or 9-10 of
their original number, residing in the limits of our Govern
ment, and have taken absolute ownership of 3,232,936,351
acres of their lands, prairies, forests, game and homes,
leaving, to all their tribes collectively, only 97,745,000 acres
of ground, generally not the best, and . even that is sought
after with a greed that is not worthy . a Christian people."
Nevertheless we boast of ourselves .being a true . Christian
nation of the "Anglo Saxon" blood. Who can but pity the

54 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

unfortunate Cubans and the Filipinos! With what emotions
of horror must they shrink from their prospective future,
when contemplating- the extermination of the North Ameri
can Indians.

Even at an early day the Indians themselves, believed, felt
andacknowledg-ed it. In 1611, all the Indians, then known to
the whites, complained, according to the statements of the
early writers, that from the time the French came to trade
with them they began to decline and die off more rapidly
than ever before. It is stated by the early explorers, that
they would often fumig-ate their heads to avoid infection
from the magic charms they believed the French carried
about their persons, secret poison, harmless to themselves,
but fatal to all Indians ; at other times they would accuse
the whites of selling them poisonous provisions. "In 1634,"
writesk the French journalist, "the orphans were sadly nu
merous, for after the Indians began to use whiskey they
died in great numbers." "Not so," said a chief in 1636, "It
is not your drink which kills us, but your writings ; fo,r
since you have described our country, our rivers, land and
forests, we are all dying-. This was not so before your com
ing." Unhappy chief! Thou wert honest in thy convic
tions, but erring; in your judgment. Whiskey was the se
cret power employed by the pale-face to silently but effectu
ally destroy thy race, as it has been from that 'day to this ;
and, as auxiliaries to that terrible destructive, the introduc
tion of small-pox, scarlet fever, measles, mumps, whooping-
cough, unknown before to the Indians, did their fatal work,
and hurried millions of that unfortunate people to premature
graves, often depopulating entire towns and villages, and
even tribes. These new and unaccountable diseases ap
pearing- among them with the coming of the whites, baffling"
their utmost powers in the healing art, and which it ap
peared no skill could obviate, nor remedy dispel the fearful
infection, they very naturally attributed the cause of them
to the writings of the Pale-face, so mysterious and incom
prehensible to them. While some tribes attributed their
mysterious dying- to the anger of the Great Spirit, who thus
punished them for permitting the Pale-faces to "describe
their country, lands, rivers and forests."

A Huron convert told the Jesuit priests in 1639, that it
was almost the universal opinion of his nation, that all the
professed friendship of the whites for the Indians was but
a blind to conceal their deep hidden hypocrisy and treachery;
and that they were really aiming to the total destruction of
the Indians, in order to secure their country for themselves.
How truly prophetic, and how much more of truth than

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. • 55

fiction were their rational conclusions, and was there not
manifested also, in their just reasonings, in regard to the
secret designs of the whites, as far-sighted statemanship as
was ever exhibited by any nation of people that ever existed,
ancient or modern? Were the phillippics hurled against the
ambitious Macedonian king and conqueror by the world
wide renowned statesman and orator of ancient Athens more
prophetic than were the predictions of those ancient Hurons
of North America? "You will see," said a relative of the
above mentioned Huron 'convert, to whom he spoke of the
kind words and friendly actions of the Jesuit priests towards
the Indians, ''your children die before your eyes; you your
self will soon follow, and if we listen to them, we all will go
the same way." "Whether it is the work of the devil or the
providence of God," adds the annalist, "we dare not say, but
of five children in the family, but one remains. Soon after
that speech, one was carried off by fever; another has been
ill for months and cannot live; the oldest, who was one of our
pupils, a lad of fourteen, died very suddenly; an adopted
daughter has a dangerous cough; the youngest boy is dying
too, while the Lord has seen fit to afflict the wife also, who,
after losing four children, herself died of small-pox. Truly
the poor Indian may say Probasti me et cognovisti me." In
1657, Father Menard himself, while laboring among the Iro-
quois, wrote as follows: "The hostility to our faith and to our
persons which the Hurons had transmitted to those abori
gines, persuading them that we carried with us disease and
misfortune to every country we approached, caused our re
ception to be cool and the presents to be spurned which we
offered as a help to the introduction of our religion."

Could the Indians be justly censured, with such potent
convictions resting upon their minds, that many, in wild de
spair and in blind revenge, if, peradventure, they might be
able to turn back the fearful and destructive tide of; disease
and death that was so effectually and rapidly destroying
them, by driving from their territories the pale-faces —
seemingly the author of all their misfortunes and woes? and
did not their hopes of success, their devotion to and love of
country, and their irresistible idealism which stimulates the
mighty effort, constitute the essence of true patriot
ism? But alas, our prejudice denies it to them.
Wherefore ? Because we, as a people, were blinded
by our imagined superiority over them, and pre-con-
ceived determination to convert their country to our own use
— every foot of it — as is so manifest to-day ; therefore refused
to become properly acquainted with them lest we might see
and learn of their many characteristic virtues. Their coun-

56 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

try was the philosopher's stone to us — the true secret that
influenced our actions toward, and all our dealing's with
them, both of a peaceful and host'le nature. It was the
sceptre that was to give us dominion over them, to their de
struction, but our aggrandizement ; the key that would un
lock to us a store-house of national power and personal
emolument, opening unto us the untold treasures of the
western continent. Therefore, whatever in them appeared
strange and forbidding to our disordered imagination ; what
ever did not agree in every punctilio to our self-conceited,
"high-born," civilized customs, we at once misjudged and
underrated, haughtily condemned and pushed aside as un
worthy our refined attention. Hence it is a lamentable
truth, that all the impressions ever made by the whites upon
the Indians, with few exceptions, from their earliest associa
tions to the present day, have been contrary to every thing that
had a tendency to secure their confidence, maintain their friend
ship, and induce them to forsake their primitive customs
and adopt those of ours ; and we have to-day the evidence
on every side that the evil influences placed before the In
dians, and the baneful impressions made upon their minds
by unprincipled and lawless white men, who have always in
fested their country, from the beginning, have been deeply
and lastingly made, and have long ago assumed the form of a
justly bitter but silent hatred enduring as time, and, it is to
be feared, forever to rankle in their breasts. This prejudice
against and hatred of all that appertains to the white race
has been widening and deepening from their first acquain
tance with the whites, from whom they have received noth
ing but sneers, cuffs and kicks from the alpha to the omega,
and now stands a yawning gulf between the confidence and
friendship of the red man and the white, so broad and deep
that all hope -of its being bridged seems nearly if not entirely
at an end. As the great and good /Washington exclaimed.,
when informed of the treason of Benedict Arnold, "Whom
can we trust?" so the Indians, long ago, have been entirely
justifiable to exclaim of the white race "Whom can -we
trust.?" Memory is, and always has been-, the Indian's only
record-book, their history of ' past events; and upon its
pages, handed down through ages from generation to gener
ation, are truthfully, faithfully and lastingly recorded in the
archives of their respective nations, and the vicissitudes of
their individual lives. Its instructions they never forget, be
they of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, rights or wrongs, bene
fits or injuries ; and. to-day, could the heart of every Indian,
whose blood is not contaminated with that of the white, male
or female, old or young, now living within the jurisdiction of

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 57

these United States' as their miserable and down-trodden
wards, be read as an open scroll-, I venture the assertion as
being* within the line of truth, though broad and inconsistent
as it may seem, there would be found written, and with just
cause approved and sustained' by truth, against the white
race, with pen dipped in the stream of as bitter hatred as
ever flowed through the human soul, "Tekel." They would
be superhuman if otherwise. But upon whom justly rests
the cause of all this? At whose door lies the fearful wrong?
Who has been the first and last cause ? The voice of truth,
as potent as that which fell upon the ears of Israel's guilty
king, sustained CLOW as then by the God of justice and truth,
comes also to the white man, and declares in thunder tones,
"Thou art the man."

The era (1492) in which Columbus discovered the
western continent was unprecedented in the history of the
world, awakening the long slumbering ambition of man-kind
to an energy unknown before, and giving origin to number
less speculative enterprises, which resulted in a fierce strug
gle among the different nations of the Old World to secure a
permanent foot-hold in the New, which offered such bright
prospects for national power and glory and individual wealth,
and soon the representatives of the different maritime
powers were seen upon the wide and seemingly illimitable
field disputing, quarrelling and fighting for supremacy upon
the soil of the Native American, and adopting every art and
device that ingenuitv could suggest, right or wrong, so it did
prove but successful in preventing the opposite from attain
ing its desired end, or displacing the fortunate one who had
secured a coveted prize. Among the most 'conspicuous
contestants were the representatives of Spain, France, Eng
land and Holland; who sent out corporations for colonizing
purposes, establishing them at different points according to
the inclinations of each, extending from the Great v
Lakes of the North to the Gulf in the South;
each assuming the right based upon that of discovery
and occupancy to possess, hold, occupy and retain
any territory desired; but in reality, more by virtue of
professed intellectual superiority over the Native Americans
and the actual advantages in the munitions of war, than that
of .any right accrued by virtue of discovery; influencing the
inexperienced and unlettered natives by cajolery and decep
tion, and oft by compulsion, to dispose of their lands to them
at nominal prices, a mere pittance under the name of ''pur
chase," without any regard whatever to the claims of truth,
justice and honor, or to the validity of the Indians' title by
previous occupancy for ages unknown. But after many

58 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

\ '

years of disputation, wrangling- and fighting-, the greatest
arena of contending disputants was cleared of all but two,
the French and English, to whom was left the task of closing
the bloody drama; but into which the two hostile and con
tending rivals continued to involve (as had been done from
the beginning of their feuds) the bewildered India'ns in their
battles with each other, and also arraying them in deadly
strife and prolonged war-fare among themselves, tribe
against tribe, that they might thus weaken their numerical
strength, and thus the quicker and the more easily drive
them from their ancient possessions; a scheme artfully
adopted by us, after the dispossession of the §higlish, in turn,
in 1776 and the handing over of the Indians to us, to complete
the destruction of that unfortunate race.

But truly has it been said, "The Father of Waters" has
two epochs, and each with a romance, the one as different
from the other as day and night. The first belongs to the
northern Mississippi, and the second to the southern ; the
former has its pastor, Father Marquette ; the latter its nov
elty, Hernahdo de Soto. France and England, long the am
bitious rivals and zealous competitors for territorial acquisi
tions throughout the inhabited globe, were the first and only
nations that disputed and contended for the entire posses
sion of the North American continent at that early day ; re
garding which it has also been said that religious enthusiasm
planted the Puritan colony on Plymouth Rock ; religious en
thusiasm planted the Cross on the shores of the St. Law
rence, among the Indians around Lake Superior, thence to
the Great Valley of the Mississippi. Thus France and her
Christianity stood in Canada and the Mississippi valley; En
gland and her Christianity stood on the hills of the Hudson
and in the Susquehanna valley, and invited the Indians each
to their respective civilization and Christianity, while bloody
conflicts and cruel scenes marked the footsteps of the intro
duction of the new order of things among the confused In-
diajns.

In 1608, Quebec was founded by the intrepid explorer,
Samuel Champlain, and whose name is perpetuated in that of
Lake Champlain. From Quebec the French Jesuits pene
trated and explored the vast solitudes of the Canadian
wilderness to the Great Lakes of the West, then a terra
incognita, to the civilized world. Following in their wake
came the English in their representatives, known as the
Pilgrims landing on the rock-bound coast of Massachusetts
in 1620/where the foot of the white man had never trod,
though the adventurous and indefatigable La Salle had ex
plored the Ohio River as far down as the present city of

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 59

Louisville, Ky., many years before, while other French
adventurers and also Jesuit missionaries had penetrated the
wild regions around the Great Lakes, thence southward
along- the various tributaries of the Mississippi which drained
the vast and wild region between them and the Gulf of
Mexico far to the south; there they planted the Cross in
those seemingly illimitable forests, whose solitudes never be
fore had been broken by the voice of anthems sang- in praise
to the one and only true God, and there left behind them
many monuments scattered here and there, as memorials of
their adventurous and perilous travels, which, in after years,
wrould remind the passer-by of the names of La Salle,
Allouez, Marquette, Joliet, Meynard, and other kindred
spirits, whose energy and untiring- efforts to convert to
their religious creed the various tribes of the Native Ameri
cans, and to successfully and permanently secure all their
territories for the French, has no parallel in the annals of
the world's history. Quebec soon became the great and
frequented mart of trade between the French and the
Indians, to which the various tribes came from far and near
in their canoes laden with the skins and furs of the
various wild animals that roamed in countless numbers
over the vast forests of those primitive days, to
see the pale-face strangers, and to exchange their furs
and skins for the new and strange articles that seemed
so greatly to excel their own comforts of life, and especially
the white man's wonderful gun, which they had quickly
learned far surpassed their bows and Arrows in killing game
and in destroying their enemies.

In 1679, James Marquette, a French Jesuit, and Louis
Joliet, a French Canadian merchant, entered the Mississippi
river by way of the Wisconsin in two birch-bark canoes;
thence down the Mississippi to a point below the mouth of
the Arkansas. In 1682, Robert de Lasalle, a French Cana
dian officer, entered the Mississippi from the Illinois river,
thence up to its source, thence down to its mouth, and gave
the name Louisiana to that vast territory in honor of Louis
XIV, king of France. In 1683, Kaskaskia, in the no'w state
of Illinois, was founded by the French ; in 1701,
Detroit, in Michigan ; in 1705, Vincennes, in Indi
ana. In 1699, the French, under the command of Le-
moyne de Iberville, also a French Canadian, founded Biloxi,
in Mississippi, which was named after a clan of the ancient
Choctaws called Bulohchi (Hickory Bar), of whom I have al
ready spoken. New Orleans was founded by the French
under Bienville, in 1718. Fort Rosalie among the Natchez
Indians, which was destroyed by them in 1729, who had be-

60 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

come exasperated by the oppressions of the French, of whom
I will again more pa, >ularly speak. In 1722, Bienville also
founded Mobile, in Alabama. A chain of forts was then
built by the French between Montreal and New Orleans ;
the most important of which were, the one at Detroit, erect
ed in 1701 ; the one at Niagara, 1726 ; and one at Crown
Point, in 1730. However, De Monts, a French Huguenot,
established the first permanent French settlement upon the
continent, at Port Royal (now Annapolis) in Nova Scotia, call
ing the territory Acadia.

February 10th, 1763, witnessed the total subversion of
French power in North America by the English, at which
time peace was made between the belligerents, England,
France and Spain, by which the North American continent
<ind-its native inhabitants were handed over to England.

Reader contemplate the following, which is only one of
thousands. In the "California Illustrated," a book written
in 1849, the Author, on page 111, says: "In passing through
a slight gorge, I came upon the bodies of three Indians who
had been dead apparently about two days, each bearing the
mark of the unerring rifle; two of them were shot through
the head; the sight was a sad one, and gave rise to melan
choly reflections, for here these poor beings are hunted and
shot down like wild beasts, and they no doubt fell by the
hand of the assassin, not for lucre but to satiate a feeling of
hate." "In an adjoining territory the Red Man had a quiet
home; there he was always supplied with venison, their corn
fields ripened in autumn, their rude1 trap furnished clothing
for the winter, and in the spring they danced in praise of
the Great Spirit for causing flowers to bloom upon the graves
of their fathers, but the white stranger came and took
possession of their hunting grounds and streams, and har-«
vested their corn. They held a council and decided that the
Great Spirit had sent the white stranger, and it would be
wrong not to give him all he wished; they collected their
traps, bows and arrows, and prepared to fall back in search
of new streams and hunting grounds; they paid the last visit
to the graves of their fathers. What were their -feelings?
The moon threw a pale, dim light through the foliage, the
air breathed a mournful sigh as they reached the lonely
mound; the stout hearted warrior drew his blanket to hide
his tears as he bowed down to commune for the last time
with the spirits that had so often blessed him in the chase;
his heart was too full, and he fell upon his face and wept
bitterly. But a last adieu; they rise, cross the arrows over
the grave, walk mournfully away; the Great Spirit give them
a new hunting ground, and the corn ripens on the plain, but

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 61

soon the white stranger comes and tells them to fall back.
They are at the base of the mountain; there are no hunting-
grounds beyond; they hold a council and deci.de to defend
their homes against further encroachments of the white
stranger. The white was strong aiid drove the Red Man
into the mountains, and for the crime of having tried to de
fend their homes and families, they are placed under a ban,
and hunted down like beasts. No matter where they are
found the crime of being a Red Man is a forfeiture, not only
of all right to prosperty but to life itself.

"Will not some philanthropist rise above sectional -preju
dices and undertake the regeneration of this truly noble but
down-trodden people? Had I the wealth of an Astor I would
not wish a better or nobler field for immortality." Will not
the philanthropists of these United States "rise above sec
tional prejudices, and undertake the regeneration of these
truly" infamous, God-forsaken, white scoundrels, that so
curse our land? "I would not wish a better or nobler field
for immortality."

"The first man I met after my arrival in the interior
was an Oregonian on horseback, armed with a revolving rifle
in search of Indians. He had had a horse stolen, and pre
sumed it was taken by an Indian ;he swore he would shoot the
first red skin he met;' and I had no reason .to doubt his
word ; still the chances were ninety-nine out of a hundred,
that the horse was stolen by a white man, and the charges of
the white man upon the Indians are like Nero's setting Rome
on fire and charging it upon Christians. I have no doubt the
three Indians above spoken of were wantonly shot while
walking peacefully along their trail." But alas ! who would
undertake the task of regenerating the harpies that are, at
the present day, pursuing the Indians, and howling at their
heels.

Eugene V. Smalley, in his travels, says: "Near the
town (Benton) we visited the camp of a dozen lodges of Pie-
gan Indians, who had come to stay all winter for the sake of
such subsistence as they could get from the garbage barrels
of the citizens. A race of valorous hunters and warriors has
fallen so low as to be forced to beg at back doors for kitchen
refuse. In one of the tepees in the Piegan camp there was
an affecting scene. A young squaw lay on a pile of robes
and blankets, hopelessly ill and given up to die. In the lines
of her face and the Expression of her great black eyes there
were traces of beauty and refinement not often seen in Indian
women. Crouched on the ground by her side sat her father,
an old' blind man with long white hair and a strong, firm face
clouded with an expression of stolid grief. The Piegans

62 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

and Blackfeet, who possess the great reservation north and
east of Fort Benton, have suffered grievously for want 'of
food, and hundreds have died from scrofula and otherdiseas-
es induced by insufficient nourishment. In fact the
government has kept them in a state of semi-starva
tion. Father Palladini told me that the speeches of
Indian chiefs at the council, where they told of their
suffering of their tribes and bared their emaciated arms
and breasts to show what a condition they had been brought
by hunger, were thrilling bursts of Indian oratory, even af
fecting listeners who could not, as he did, understand the
spoken words." What a picture is here represented of our
policy toward the Indians ! What an illustration of the de
signs of that arch dissembler, the author of the "Severalty
Bill," whose venal soul plunders a helpless people of the
homes and little all through wilful misrepresentation and
brazen-faced falsehood. What a true elucidation of the so-
called "Indian Problem" which our congress has so long
held up in imaginary suspension in mid air as a kind of Mo
hamet's coffin !

The ancient traditional history of the Choctaws and Chick-
asaws, (the former signifying Separation and the latter Re
bellion — separation and rebellion from the Muskogees, now
known as Creeks, who, according to tradition, were once of
one tribe before their migration from some distant country-
far to the west, totheir ancient domain east of the Mississippi
river, which is of more than dubious authority) claims for
them a Mexican origin, and a migration from that country at
some remote period in the past, under the leadership of two
brothers, respectively named Chahtah aud Chikasah, both
noted and influential chiefs, to their possessions east of the
Mississippi. Adair, in his "American Indians," says:
•'The Choctaws and Chickasaws descended from a people
called Chickemacaws, who were among the first inhabitants
of the Mexican empire ; and at an ancient period wandered
east, with a tribe of Indians called Choccomaws ; and finally
crossed the Mississippi river, with a force of ten thousand
warriors." It is reasonable to suppose that the name
Choctaw has its derivation from Choccomaw, and Chickasaw,
from Chickemacaw (both corrupted) ; as they claim, and no
doubt justly, the names Choctaw and Chickasaw to be their
ancient and true names.

Their tradition, in regard to their origin as related by
the aged Choctaws to the missionaries in 1820, was in sub
stance as follows: In a remote period of the past their an
cestors dwelt in a country far distant toward the setting
sun1; and being conquered and greatly oppressed by a more

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. . • 63

powerful people (the Spaniards under Cortez) resolved to
seek a country far removed from the possibility of their op
pression.

A great national council was called, to which the entire
nation in one vast concourse- quickly responded. After
many days spent in grave deliberations upon the question in
Avhich so much was involved, a day was finally agreed upon
and a place of rendezvous duly appointed whence they should
bid a final adieu to their old homes and country and take up
their4ine of march to seek others, they knew not where.
When the appointed day arrived it found them at the desig
nated place fully prepared and ready for the exodus under
the chosen leadership of two brothers, Chahtah and Chika-
sah, both equally renowned for /their bravery and skill in
war and their wisdom and prudence in council ; who, as
Moses and Aaron led the Jews in their exodus from Egypt,
were to lead them from a land of oppression to one of peace,
prosperity and happiness. The evening before their de
parture a "Fabussa" (pole, pro. as Fa-bus-sah) was firmly
set up in the ground at the centre point of their encamp
ment, by direction of their chief medicine man and prophet,
whose wisdom in matters pertaining to things supernatural
was unquestioned and to whom, after many days fasting and
supplication, the Great Spirit had revealed that the Fabussa
would indicate on the following morning, the direction they
should march by its leaning ; and, as the star led the Magi
to where the world's infant Redeemer and Savior sweetly re
posed, so the leaning of the pole, on each' returning morn,
would indicate the direction they must travel day by day un
til they reached the sought and desired haven; when, on the
following morn, it would there and then remain as erect as
it had been placed the evening before. At the early dawn of
the following morn many solicitous eyes were turned to the
silent but prophetic Fabussa, Lo! It leaned to the east.
Enough. Without hesitation or delay the mighty host began
its line of march toward the rising sun, and followed each
day the morning directions given by the talismanic pole,
which was borne by day at the head of the moving multi
tude, and set up at each returning evening in the centre of
the encampment, alternately by the two renowned chiefs-aiid
brothers, Chahtah and Chikasah. For weeks and months
they journeyed toward the east as directed by the undeviat-
ing fabussa, passing over wide extended plains and through
forests vast and abounding with game of many varieties
seemingly undisturbed before by the presence of man, from
which their skillful hunters bountifully supplied their daily
wants. Gladly would they have accepted, as their future

64 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

asylum, many parts of the country /through which they
traveled, but were forbidden, as each returning1 morn the un
relenting- pole still gave its silent but comprehended com
mand: "Eastward and onward." After many months of
wearisome travel, suddenly a vast body of flowing1 water
stretched its mighty arm athwart their path. With un
feigned astonishment they gathered in groups upon its banks
and gazed upon its turbid waters. Never before had they
even heard of, or in all their wanderings stumbled upon
aught like this. Whence its origin? Where its terminus?
This is surely the Great Father the true source of all waters,
whose age is wrapt in the silence of the unknown past, ages
beyond all calculation, and as they then and there named it
"Misha Sipokni" (Beyond Age, whose source and terminus'
are unknown).

Surely a more appropriate, beautiful and romantic name,
than its usurper Mississippi, without any signification. But
who can tell when the waters of Misha Sipokni first
found their way from the little Itasca lake hidden in its
northern home, to the far away gulf amid the tropics of the
•south? Who when those ancient Choctaws stood upon its
banks and listened to its murmurings which alone disturbed
the silence of the vast wilderness that stretched away on
every side, could tell of its origin and over what mighty dis
tances it rolled its muddy waters to their ultimate , destiny?
And who today would presume to know or even conjecture,
through what mysterious depths its surging currents strug
gle ere they plunge into the southern gulf? But what now
says their dumb talisman? Is Misha Sipokni to be the
terminus of their toils? Are the illimitable forests that so
lovingly embraced in their wide extended arms its restless
waters to be their future homes? Not so. Silent and motion
less, still as ever before, it bows to the east and its mandate
"Onward, beyond Misha Sipokni" is accepted without a
murmur; and at once they proceed to construct canoes and
rafts by which, in a few weeks, all were safely landed upon
its eastern banks, whence again was resumed their eastward
march, and so continued until they stood upon the western
banks of the Yazoo river and once more encamped for the
night; and, as had been done for* many months before, ere
evening began to unfold her curtains and twilight had
spread o'er all her mystic light, the Fabussa (now truly
their Delphian oracle) was set up; but ere the morrow's sun
had plainly lit up the eastern horizon, many anxiously watch
ing eyes that early rested upon its straight, slender, silent
fo.rm, observed it stood erect as when set up the evening be
fore. And then was borne upon that morning breeze

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 65

throughout the vast sleeping- encampment, the joyful accla
mation, "Fohah hupishno Yak! Fohah hupishno Yak! (pro.
as Fo-hah, Rest, hup-ish-noh, we, all of us, Yak, here.)

Now their weary pilgrimage was ended, and flattering-
hope portrayed their future destiny in the bright colors of
peace, prosperity and happiness. Then, as commemorative
of this great event in their national history, they threw up a
large mound embracing three acres of land and rising
forty feet in a conical form, with a deep hole about ten feet
in diameter excavated on the top, and all enclosed by a ditch
encompassing nearly twenty acres. After its completion, it
was discovered not to be erect but a little leaning, and they
named it Nunih (mountain or mound, Waiyah, leaning, pro. as
Nunih Wai-yah). This relic of the remote past still stands half
buried in the accumulated rubbish of years unknown, dis
figured also by the desecrating touch of time which has
plainly left his* finger marks of decay .upon it blotting out
its history, with all others of its kind, those memorials of
ages past erected by the true Native American, about which
so much has been said in conjecture and so much written in
speculation, that all now naturally turn to anything from
their modern conjectures and speculations with much doubt
and great misgivings.

Several years afterward, according to the tradition of
the Choctaws as narrated to the missionaries, the two
brothers, still acting in the capacity of chiefs, 'disagreed
in regard to some national question, and, as Abraham sugr
gested to Lot the propriety of a separation, so did Chikasah
propose to Chahtah; but not with that unselfishness that
Abraham manifested to Lot; since Chikasah, instead of
giving to Chahtah the choice of directions, proposed that
they should leave it to a game of chance, to which Chahtah
readily acquiesced. Thus it was played: They stood fac-^
ing each other, one to the east and the other to the west,
holding a straight pole, ten or fifteen feet in length, in an
erect position between them with one end resting on the
ground; and both were to let go of the pole at "the same
instant by a pre-arranged signal, and the direction in which
it fell was to decide the direction in which Chikasah was to
take. If it fell to the north, Chikasah and his adherents
were to occupy the northern portion of the country, and
Chahtah and his adherents, the southern; but if it felfto the
south, then Chikasah, with his followers, was to possess
the southern portion of the country, and Chahtah with his,
the northern. The game was played, and the pole decreed
that Chikasah should- take the northern partv of their then
vast and magnificent territory. Thus they were divided

66 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

(

and became two separate and distinct tribes, each of whom
assumed and ever afterwards retained the name of their
respective chiefs, Chahtah and Chikasah. The ancient
traditions of the Cherokees, as well as the ancient traditions
of the Muscogees (Creeks) and the Natchez also point back
to Mexico as the country from which they, in a period long-
past, moved to their ancient possessions east of the Missis
sippi river. But whether they preceded the Choctaws
and Chickasaws or came after, their traditions are silent.

Milfort, (p. 269) says : Big- Warrior, chief of the Chero
kees, as late as 1822, not only confirms their tradition that
Mexico was their native country, but goes back to a more
remote period for their origin and claims that his ancestors
came from Asia; crossing Behring Straits in their canoes;
thence down the Pacific coast to Mexico; thence to the coun
try east of the Mississippi river, where they were first
known to the Europeans.

Mr. Gaiues, United States agent to the Choctaws in 1810,
asked Apushamatahaubi (pro. Ar-push-ah-ma-tar-hah ub-ih),
the most renowned chief of the Choctaws since their acquain
tance with the white race, concerning- the origin of his peo
ple, who replied: "A hattaktikba bushi-aioktulla hosh hopaki
fi/una moma ka minti" (pro. as Arn (my) hut-tark-tik-ba
(forefather) hush-ih, -ai-o-kah-tullah (the west) mo-mah (all)
meen-tih (came) ho-par-kih (far) feh-nah (very)). And the
same response was always given by all the ancient Choctaws
living- east of the Mississippi river, when the inquiry was
made of them, whence their origin? By this they only re
ferred to the country in which their forefathers long dwelt
prior to their exodus to the east of the Mississippi river; as
they also had a tradition that their forefathers come from a
country beyond the "Big Waters" far to the northwest,
crossing a large body of water in their canoes of a day's
travel, thence doyvn the Pacific coast to Mexico, the same as
the Cherokees. In conversation with an aged Choctaw in
the year 1884, (Robert Nail, along known friend,) upon the
subject, he confirmed the tradition by stating that his peo
ple first came from Asia by way of the Behring Straits. He
was, a man well versed in geography, being taught in boy
hood by the missionaries prior to their removal from their
eastern homes to their present abode north of Texas. The
Muscogees, Shawnees, Delawares, Chippeways, and other
tribes also have the same traditions pointing beyond Behring
Straits to Asia as the land whence their forefathers came in
ages past. Some of their traditions state, that they crossed
the Strait on the ice^ the Chippeways for one ; but the most,
according to their traditions, crossed in their canoes. But

HISTOKY OF THE INDIANS. 67

that the ancestors of the North American Indians came at
some unknown period in the remote past, from Asia to the
North American continent, there can be no doubt. Their
traditions, pointing" back to ancient historical events, and
many other things, though vague by the mists of ages past,
yet interestingly strange from proximity to known historical
truths. Noah, who lived 350 years after the flood, which oc
curred 1656 years from the creation of man, or 2348 B. C.,
divided the earth, according to general opinion, among his
three sons. To Shem, he gave Asia; to Ham, Africa, and to
Japheth, Europe, whose posterity are described occupying
chiefly the western and northern regions (Gen. x, 2-5); this
well accords with the etymology of the name, which signifies
widely spreading ; and how wonderfully did Providence en
large the boundaries of Japheth! His posterity diverged
eastward and westward, from the original settlement in Ar
menia, through the whole extent of Asia north of the great
range of Taurus distinguished by the general namesof Tarta-
ry and Siberia as far as the Eastern Ocean: and, in process of
time, by an easy passage across Behring Straits, over the en
tire continent; and they spread in the opposite direction,
throughout the whole of Europe, to the Atlantic Ocean ; thus
literally encompassing the earth, within the precincts of
the northern temperate zone ; while the war-like genius of
this hardy hunter race frequently led them into the settle
ments, and to dwell in the "tents of Shem," whose pastoral
occupations rendered them more inactive, peaceable, and un-
war-like.

There is much proof in favor of the belief that the Choc-
taws, Chickasaws, Cherokees and Muscogees, were living in
Mexico when Cortez overthrew the Aztec dynasty.

But heavily has the hand of time, with its weight of
years, rested upon the descendants of the people over whom,
the two brothers, Chahtah and Chikasah swayed the
sceptre of authority as chiefs, counselors and warriors, in
the unknown ages of the past; and from the time of their
traditional migration to that of their first acquaintance with
the White Race, what their vicissitudes and mutations; wrhat
their joys and sorrows; what their hopes and fears; what
their lights and shadows, during the long night of historical
darkness, was known to them alone, and with them has long
been buried in the oblivion of the hidden past, together with
that of their entire race. Truly, their legends, their songs
and romances, celebrating their exploits, would form, if but
known, a literature of themselves; and though their ghosts
still ride through the forests and distant echoes o^ them are
still heard in vague tradition, yet they afford but a slender

68 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

basis for a history for this broad fabric of romance,' while
around them still cluster all those wonderful series of myths
which have spread over the land and assumed so many
shapes. But what a volume of surpassing- romance; of fon
dest hopes, of blighted aspirations; of glorious enthuiasms;
of dark despair, and of touching- pathos, would their full
history make? They owned this vast continent, and had
possessed it for ages exceeding- in time the ability of the
human mind to conceive; and they too speak of the long in
fancy of the human race; of its slow advance in culture; of
its triumphs over obstacles, and of the final appearance of
that better day, when ideas of truth, justice, and that ad
vanced stage of enlightenment had been reached wherein we
speak of man as civilized. They were of a cheerful and joy
ous disposition, and of a kindly nature, the croaking- and
.snarlings of ignorance and prejudice to the contrary not
withstanding. Their civilization has been ' grossly under
estimated. We have unjustly contemplated them to a ridicu
lous extent through our own selfish and narrow contracted
spectacles, and have so loudly talked of and expatiated upon
their forests, that we have forgotten their cornfields; and
repeatedly spoken of their skill as hunters, until we have
overlooked their labors as herdsmen; while, at the same time,
it has been customary every where to look down upon them
with emotions of contempt and to decry their habits and
customs. I do not deny the existence of blemishes in many
of their characteristics; nor deny that superstitions and
erroneous opinions were prevalent, at which we have assumed
to be greatly horrified; yet, do condemn the modern writers
for their want of judgment on this point, -?nd their unreason
able severity in their condemnation of the Indians, in whom
they profess to have discovered so many defects without a
redeeming- virtue; and their disregard of the truth, that, to
him alone who is without sin is given the right to cast the
first stone. Therefore, how could it be otherwise than that,
concerning- the dealings of the White Race with the Red,
there is a sad, fearful and revolting, story 'to be told; while
losing ourselves in the wild revelry of imagination, we dream
of the time when our civilization and Quixotic ideas of human
liberty shall embrace the entire world in its folds.

The Choctaws were first made known to the European
world by the journalists of that memorable adventurer.
Hernando De Soto, who invaded their territory October,
1540, and introduced the civilized (so-called) race of man
kind to the Choctaws in the following manner: A manly
young Indian of splendid, proportions, and with a face ex
tremely attractive and interesting, visited De Soto after he

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 69

had left Tallase. He was the son of Tuscaloosa (corruption
of the Choctaw words Tushka, warrior, Lusa, black), a re
nowned chief whose territories extended to the distant
Tombigbee in the west. (Tombigbee is a corruption of the
Choctaw words Itombi, box, ikbi, maker), a name given to a
white man, it is said, who, at an early day, settled on the
banks of the river and made boxes for the Choctaws, in
which were placed the bones of their dead, which will be par
ticularly noticed elsewhere.

The young warrior bore an invitation from his father
to De Soto to visit him at his capital. The next da.y De Soto,
advancing to. within six miles of where the great chief await
ed him, made a halt, and sent Louis de Mascosso with' fifteen
horsemen to inform Tush ka Lusa of his near approach.
Mascosso and his troopers soon appeared before Tush ka
Lusa, who was seated upon an eminence commanding a
broad and delightful view. He was a man of powerful stat
ure, muscular limbs, yet of admirable proportions, with a
countenance grave and severe, yet handsome. When De
Soto arrived Tush ka Lusa arose and advanced to meet him
with a proud and haughty air, and said : ''Great Chief ; I re
ceive you as a brother, and welcome you to my country. I am
ready to comply with your requests." After a few prelimi
naries, in company with Tush ka Lusa and his followers, De
Soto took up his line of inarch for Mobila the capital of the
mighty chief. (Mobila is a corruption of the two Choctaw
words moma, all, binah, a lodge, literally a lodge or encamp
ment for all.)

.On the third day of their march from Piache, (a corrup
tion of the Choctaw word Pi-a-chih, to care for us), they
passed through many populous towns, well stored with corn,
beans and other provisions. On the fourth morning, De
Soto, with a, hundred cavalry and as many infantry, made a
forced march with Tush ka Lusa in the direction of Mobila,
leaving Mascosso to bring up the rear. At eight o'clock the
same morning, October 18th, 1540, De Soto and Tush ka
Lusa reached the capital. It stood by the side of a large
river, upon a beautiful plain, and consisted of eighty hand
some houses, each large enough to contain a thousand men,
and all fronting a large public square. Dodge says in his
book styled "Our Wild Indians" that "The aboriginal in
habitants of the North American continent, have never at any
time exceeded half a million souls;" yet according to De
Soto's journalists who were with him in his memorable raid,
Mobila alone, "consisted of eighty handsome houses, each
large enough to contain a thousand men;" 'and if each house
contained Dodge's "several families consisting 6f men, with

70 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

two or three wives, and children of all ages and sexes, occu
py for all purposes one single lodge of 12 or 15 feet in
diameter what must have been the number of iiidabitants
in Mobila with "80 handsome houses, each large enough to
contain a thousand men" with two, three, or more wives,
and children occupying "for all purposes," a space only "12
or 15 feet, in diameter"? The reader can make the calcula
tion at his own leisure ; though it seems Mobila alone con
tained over half the number of souls that Dodge allows for
the entire continent, "at one time."

A high wrall surrounded the town, made of immense
trunks of trees set close together and deep in the ground,
and made strong with heavy cross timbers interwoven"with
large vines. A thick mud plaster, resembling handsome
masonry, concealed the wood work, while port-holes were
abundant, together with towers, capable of holding eight
men each, at the distance of fifteen paces apart. There
were two gates leading into the town, one on the east, the
other on the west. De Soto and Tush ka Lusa were es
corted into the great public square with songs and chants,
and the dancing of beautiful Indian girls. They alighted
from their horses, and' were given seats under a canopy of
state. Having remained seated for a short time, Tush ka
Lusa now requested that he should no longer be held as a
hostage ; to which De Soto giving no heed, the indignant
chief at once arose and walked off with an independent atti
tude to where a group of his warriors stood. De Soto had
scarcely recovered from his surprise at the independent con
duct of Tush ka Lusa, when Jean Ortez followed the chief
and stated that breakfast awaited him at De Soto's table ;
but he refused to return, and added, "If your chief knows
what is best for him, he will immediately take his troops out
of my territory." At this juncture De Soto secretly sent word
to his men to be prepared for an attack. Then, hoping to
prevent an attack until he could again get in possession of
the chief, De Soto advanced toward him with assumed smiles
and words of friendship, but Tush ka Lusa scornfully
turned his back upon him, and was soon hidden among the
multitude of now highly excited warriors. Justthen a warrior
rushed out of a house, 'denouncing the Spaniards as robbers
and murderers and declared that they should no longer impose
on their chief, by holding him as a prisoner. His words so en
raged Baltaserde Gallagas, that he cut the warrior in twain with
one sweep of his broad sword. At the sight of their slain
warrior, the Choctaws, with their defiant war-whoop, at once
rushed upon De Soto and his men. De Soto, placing himself
at the head of his men, fighting and retreating,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 71

slowly made his way out of the town into the
plain; and continued to retreat until he had
reached a considerable distance upon the plain. In the
mean time the troopers rushed to secure their horses, which
had been tied outside of the walls. The Choctaws at once
knocked the chains from the hands and feet of the Indian
prisoners whom De Soto had brought with him, giving1 them
weapons bade them help destroy the perfidious strang'ers. In
the first rush the Choctaws killed five of the Spaniards, who
had been left outside of the walls, and were loudly exulting
over their seeming good fortune in dense masses before the
gate. At that moment, De Soto with his cavalry, closely
followed by his infantry, made a fearful charge upon the
disordered mass of the Choctaws, who were still on the out
side of the enclosures, and with a terrible slaughter drove
them back into the town. Immediately the Choctaws
rushed to the port-holes and towers, and hurled clouds of ar
rows and spears upon the Spaniards, and again drove them
from the walls. Seeing the Spaniards again retreat, again

/the Choctaws rushed through the gate and fearlessly attacked
the Spaniards fighting them hand to hand and face to face.
Three long hours did the battle rage, the Spaniards now re
treating, then the Choctaws. Like a spectre De Soto seemed
every where hewing down on the right and left, as if his
arm could never tire. vThat sword, which had been so often
stained with the blood of the South American, was now red
with that of the North American, a still braver race. Above
the mighty din was heard the voice of Tush ka Lusa en
couraging his warriors ; his tomahawk, wielded by his mus
cular arm, ascended and descended in rapid strokes, like a
meteor across a starry sky. But could the feeble bow and

1 arrow and the tomahawk avail against the huge lance and
broad-sword? What the unprotected body of the Choctaw
warrior against the steel clad body of the Spanish soldier?
At length the Choctaws were forced to make a permanent re
treat within the enclosure of their town, closing the gates
after them; and at the same time the Spaniards made a des
perate charge against the gates and walls, but were met
with showers of arrows and other missiles. But the infant
ry, protected by their bucklers, soon hewed the gates to
pieces with their battle-axes, and rushed into the town, while
the cavalry remained on the outside to cut to pieces all who
might attempt to escape. Then began a carnage too awful
to relate. The Choctaws fought in the streets, in the
square, from the house top, and walls ; and though the
ground was covered with their dead and dying relatives and
friends, still no living one entreated* for -quarter. Hotter

72 HISTORY OF THR INDIANS.

and hotter, and more bloody waxed the desperate conflict.
Often the Choctaws drove the Spaniards out of the town, but
to see them return again with demoniac fury. To such a
crisis had the battle now arrived, that there could be no idle
spectators ; and now were seen women and girls contending
side by side with the husbands, fathers and ^brothers^ and
fearlessly sharing in the dangers and in the indiscriminate
slaughter. At length the houses were setson fire, . and the
wind blew the smoke and flames in all directions adding hor
ror to the scene. The flames ascended in mighty volumes.
The din of strife began to grow fainter. The sun weut
down, seemingly to rejoice in withdrawing from the sicken
ing scene. Then all was hushed. Mobila was in ruins,
and her people slain. For nine long hours had the battle
raged. Eighty-two Spaniards were killed^ and forty-five
horses. But alas, the poor Choctaws, who participated in
the fight were nearly all slain.

Garcellasso asserts that eleven thousand were slain;
while the "Portuguese Gentleman" sets the number at twenty
five hundred within the town alone. Assuming a point be
tween the two, it is reasonable to conclude that six thousand
were killed in and outside of the town. Tushka Lusa
perished with his people. After the destruction of Mobila,
De Soto remained a few days upon the plains around the
smoking town ; sending out foraging parties, who found the
neighboring villages well stocked with provisions. In all
these foraging- excursions, females of great beauty were
captured, and added to those taken at the close of the battle.
On Sunday the. 18th of November, 1540, this monster and
his fiendish crew took their departure from the smouldering
ruins of Mobila, and its brave but murdered inhabitants; and
with the poor Mobila girls, at whose misfortunes humanity
weeps, resumed their westward march.''

Thus the Europeans introduced themselves to the Native
Americans nearly four centuries ago as a race of civilized and
Christian pe.ople, 'but proving themselves to be a race of
fiends utterly void of every principle of virtue known to man.
And thus the Native' American's introduced themselves to the
Europeans as a race unknown to civilization and Christianity,
yet proving themselves possessed of many virtues that adorn
man, together with a spirit of as true and noble patriotism,
martyrs upon the. altar of liberty, that has never been sur
passed .

I challenge history to show a nation whose people ever
displayed a more heroic courage in defense of their country
and homes than did Tushka Lusa and his brave people in
defending their town Mama-binah. They exposed their

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 73

naked breasts to the keen lances and swords of those iron-clad
Spaniards with but stone and bone-tipped spears and the
feeble bow and arrow, which were but as toy pistols against
the deadly Winchester rifle of the present day; and heroic
ally stood face to face with their terrible foes with their frail
weapons and disputed every inch of ground, and yielded
only when none was left to fight. That they should have
killed eighty two of the Spaniards with their feeble weapons
is truly astonishing, proving conclusively that had they been
on equal footing with the Spaniards, not a Spaniard would
have survived to tell the tale of their complete destruction.

That the Mobiliaiis,as they have been called by the early
writers, were a clan of the ancient Choctaws there can be no
doubt whatever The early French colonists established in
the south under Bienville called the Choctaws, Mobilians
and Pafalaahs (corruption of the Choctaw words pin, our,
okla, people, falaiah, tall), and also called the Chickasaws
Mobilians; they also state that the Choctaws, Pifalaiahs or
more properly, Hottak falaiahs (long or tall men) and Mobi
lians spoke the same language. The present city of Mobile
in Alabama was named after the Mobila "Iksa," or clan of
Choctaws by Bienville at the time he laid its foundation.
Moma binah, or Mobinah (from which Mobile is derived) and
Pifalaiah are pure Choctaw words. According to the ancient
traditions of the Choctaws, and to which the ag*ed Choctaws
now living still affirm, their people were, in the days of the
long past, divided into two great Iksas ; one was Hattak i ho-
lihtah (Pro. har-tark, men, i, their holihta, ho-lik-tah,
fenced ; i, e. Their men fortify). The other, Kashapa okla
{as Ka-shar-pau-oke-lah): Part people, i. e. A divided people.
The two original clans, subsequently divided into six clans,
were named as follows : Haiyip tuk lo hosh, (The two
lakes.) Hattak falaiah (as, Har-tark fa-lai-yah hosh. The
long man or men. Okla huniiali hosh (as Oke-lah huri-nar-
lih hosh. People six the. Kusha (Koon-shah) Being broken.
Apela, (A help.) Chik a sah ha, (A Chckasaw.)

In 1721, a remnant of the Mobilians were living at the
junction of the, Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, but finally
united with other clans of the Choctaws, their own people,
and thus became extinct as an iksa. The laws of the great
Iksas or families, Hattak i holahta and kash ap a okla, for
bade the marriage of: any person, either male or female,
belonging to the same clan; which, as the laws of the Medes
and Persians, were unchangeable ; and to this day, the same
laws relating to marriage are strictly observed.

From the destruction of Mobila by De Soto, a long, star
less night of nearly two centuries throws its impenetrable

74 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

veil over the Choctaws shrouding- their history in the oblivion
of the past. But that they, with other southern tribes, were
a numerous and also an agricultural people as far back as
the fifteenth century there is no doubt ; though agricultural
to a small extent in comparison with the whites; yet to a
sufficient degree to satisfy the demands of any people to
who avarice was an entire stranger, and who adhered to the
maxim "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

When De Soto passed through Georgia, his route was
lined with towns, villages and hamlets, and many sown fields
which reached from one to the other. The numerous log-
pens were full of corn, while acres of that which was grow
ing bent to the warm rays of the sun and rustled in the
.breeze. "On the 18th of September, 1540, De Soto reached the
town of Tallase, a corruption of the Choctaw words Tuli,
rock, and aisha, abound, i. e. the place of rocks."

It stood upon a point of land almost surrounded by a
main river. Extensive fields of corn reached up and down
the banks. On the opposite side were other towns, skirted
with rich fields laden with heavy ears of corn. On the
third day the of march from Piache, they passed through
many populous towns, well stored with corn, beans, pump
kins, and other provisions."

But the six great southern tribes, Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Cherokees, Muscogees, Seminoles and Natchez possessed
too grand a country not to attract the eyes of the fortune
hunters of all Europe, and excite their cupidity to the high
est degree; therefore, the French in Lousiana, the Span
iards in Florida, and the English in Virginia and the Caro-
linas, early sought to establish a foothold in the territories
of those warlike and independent tribes by securing, each
for himself, their trade, with a view of ultimately conquering
them and thus getting possession of their territories and
country. As early as 1670 the English traders and emissa
ries had also found their way to the Choctaws, Chickasaws
and Muscogees; and but few years had passed before their
designs, together with those of the French and Spaniards,
were plainly manifested.

By each exciting the Indians and influencing them to
drive the others from their territories; each hoping thus to
ultimately secure these regions for their own country and
their personal interests. As the French had artfully gained
and held the friendship and confidence of the Choctaws, so
had the English secured and held that of the Chickasaws;
hence those two brave, and then powerful tribes, were in
duced to. make frequent wars upon each other, , and thus
each foolishly but ignorantly furthering the designs of their

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 75

mutual foes against themselves, the Choctaws weakening and
destroying the Chickasaws for the benefit of the French,
alone, and the Chickasaws for the benefit alone of the Eng
lish; neither caring a fig for either the Choctaw^ or Chicka
saws, 'only so far as prosecuting their designs the one against
the otheV; each with the hope of driving the other out
of the country, and then, being enabled easily to subjugate
the Indians by their weakened condition, they would soon
secure their country; therefore, the more Indians killed, no
matter by whom or by what means, the better. Thus were
the grasping hands of the two unscrupulous rivals mani
fested as long as they possessed any power or authority upon
the North American continent now forming the United
States.

In 1696, Bienville convened the chiefs of the Choctaws
and Chickasaws in council, that he might conciliate their good
will by presents; and, with a view of impressing them with
his power and greatness by an imposing display, he also
called together all the colonists within his reach; but his effort
to impress the Choctaws and Chickasaws with an idea of his
greatness proved more humiliating than flattering to the
pride of Bienville, as they manifested to him their utter con
tempt of such a farcical evidence of power and greatness, by
propounding- a question to him, through one of- their chiefs,
which was a humiliating proof of the low estimation in which
they held him as well as the entire French people; it was, "If
his people at home were as numerous as those who had set-'
tied in their country"? In reply, Bienville, who had learned
to speak their language to some extent, attempted to describe
to them by various comparisons the great numbers and
power of the French. But still the chiefs proved not only to
be douhting Thomases, but wholy established in the belief
that all he had said was false, by finally propounding the
following questions: "If your countrymen are as thick, as you
say, on their native soil as the leaves on the trees of our
forests, why have they not sent more of their warriors here
to avenge the death of those whom we have slain in battle?
When they have the power to avenge their death and then fail
do so, is an evidence of great cowardice or a mean spirit.
And why is it that the places of the strong and brave soldiers
that first came with you, but now dead, are filled by so many
little, weak and bad looking men, and even boys? If your
nation is so great and your people so numerous, they would
not thus act, and we believe that our white brother talks with
a forked tongue." Thus was Bienville fully convinced that
the Choctaws and Chickasaws did not tremble through fear
of his boasted power; and that, they also well knew that he

76 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

only had about, fifty soldiers at his command, and that his
attempted display of power had but convinced them of his
weakness. And had the ChOctaws and Chickasaws been so
disposed, they could, with a little handful of their warriors,
have wiped out the French colony, Bienville, soldiers and all.

In 1702, Bienville, then commander of the French at Mo
bile, secretly sent out a small party to the Choctaws and
ChickasawTs to solicit their friendship, and thus secure their
trade. A few chiefs returned with the party to Mobile,
whom Bienville welcomed and entertained with affected
friendship and assumed hopitality, bestowing" presents and
soliciting" their friendship; yet, "In January, 1704," says
Barnard de la Harpe, pp. 35, 83, "Bienville induced several
war parties of the Choctaws to invade the country of the In
dian allies of the English, and having" taken several scalps,
they broug-ht them to Bienville, who rewarded them satisfac
torily;" thus involving" the Choctaws, whose interests he' pro
fessed to have so much at heart, in destructive warfare so
greatly detrimental to their national interests; and proving
the shallowness of his professed friendship for the Indians
and the perfidy of his nature, in a letter to the French min
ister, October 12. 1708, in which he suggested the propriety
of the French colonists in North America, being" allowred the
privilege offending Indians to the West India Islands to be
exchanged as slaves for negroes, and asserting that "those
Islanders would give t\vo negroes for three Indians."

There was a tradition of the Choctaws related to the
missionaries over seventy-five years ago by the old warriors
of the Choctaws of that day, who for many years before had
retired from the hardships of the war-path, which stated
that a two years' war broke out between their nation and
the Chickasaws, over a hundred years before (about 1705)
the advent of the missionaries among them, resulting in the
loss of many warriors on both sides and finally ending in the
defeat of the Chickasaws ; whereupon peace was restored to
the mutual gratification of both nations wearied with the
long fratricidal strife. This war had its origin as the tra
dition affirms, in an unfortunate affair that occurred in Mo
bile, (then a little French trading post) between a party of
Chickasaw warriors (about seventy) who had gone there
for the purpose of trade, and a small band of Choctaws who
had preceded them on the same business. While three to
gether, a quarrel arose between some of the different war
riors resulting in a general fight, in which, though several
Chickasaws were killed and wounded, the entire little band of
Choctaws was slain as was supposed; but unfortunately for
the Chickasaws a Choctaw happening to be in another part 'of

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 77

the town at the time of the difficulty, escaped ; and learning
at once of the killing1 of his comrades, fled for home, where
arriving- safely he informed his people of the bloody tragedy
at Mobile. Without delay the Choctaws adopted measures
of revenge. Knowing that the company of Chickasaws
would have to return home 'through their country, they laid
their plans accordingly. The Chickasaws, not without fears,
however, lest the Choctaws might have heard of the unfor
tunate affair, secured an escort from Bienville of twenty-five
Canadians under the command of Boisbriant. As they ap
proached a village, the Choctaws sent a small company to
invite' and escort them to a council pretenvedly to be in
session ; which the Chickasaws, feeling- safe under their
escort, accepted. They were escorted to the sham council,
and were given, as was customary on such occasions, the
inside circles, all seated on the ground; while the Choctaws
formed a circle completely hemming- them in. A Choctaw
chief then arose and advanced with g*reat solemnity and dig-
nity to thecspeaker's place in the centre, with a tomahawk
concealed under his dress, wrhich, when he drew from its
place of concealment, was the signal for the work of death
to begin. The speaker went on for a few minutes in a
strain of wild eloquence, but saying nothing that would
awaken the least suspicion in the minds of his still unsus
pecting guests; when suddenly he snatched the fatal toma
hawk from its concealment and in an instant hundreds of
tomahawks, heretofore concealed, gleamed a moment in the
air and then descended upon the heads of the doomed Chicka
saws, and, ere they had time for a second thought, all were
slain. The Choctaws knowing that the Chickasaws would
hear of the destruction of their brethren and would retaliate
upon them, rushed at once jnto their country and destroyed
several villages ere the Chickasaws could recover from their
surprise. But the brave and dauntless Chickasaws, ever equal
to any and all emergencies, soon rallied from their discom
fiture, and presented a bold and defiant front. Then com-
'menced a two years' war of daring deeds and fatal results
between those two nations of fearless warriors, known and to
be known to them alone. The creek, dividing that portion
of their territories that lay contiguous t6 the place where
the band of Chickasaws were slain on their return from
Mobile, now in the northern part of Oktibbiha county, Mis
sissippi, and known as Line Creek, was named by the Choc
taws, after the two years' war, Nusih (sleep or slept, Chiah,
yau-yau slept, that is, you were taken by surprise) in
memorial of those two tragical events, the surprise and
destruction of the Chickasaw warriors, and the disquiet and

78 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

discomfiture of their nation at the unexpected attack upon
them by the Choctaws, Nusih Chia has been erroneously
interpreted by some as meaning- "Where acorns abound."
Nosi aiasha — means where acorns abound;

The killing" of this little band of Chickasaws under the
circumstances, together with that of being- under the escort
and protection of the French, caused the Chickasaws to be
lieve it was done throug-h the connivance of the French, and
ever afterwards they were the most inveterate and uncom
promising- enemies of the French, among- all the Indian
tribes, north and south, except the Iroquois, and in which,
as a matter of course, they were encouraged by the Carolina
traders from the English settlements.

That the southern Indians were friendly to their foreig-n
intruders and disposed to live in peace with them, and were
not such a bloodthirsty people as they have been repre
sented, is clearly demonstrated by the fact that, in 1810
there was such a scarcity of provisions, that Bienville had to
scatter his men among- the Indians in order to obtain food
for them, and so informed his g-overnment; a plan to which
he had been driven before; and had not the Indians pre
ferred peace to • war with the whites, they surely would have
embraced such favorable opportunities to destroy the un
welcome invader of their country.

In 1711, throug-h the machinations of the English, who
were ever ready to embrace every opportunity to enhance
their own interests, though at the destruction of the Indians',
the Choctaws "end Chickasaws, were ag-aiii involved in a
fratricidel war, at fye beginning of which, there was a little
company of thirty Chickasaw warriors instead of Choctaws,
in Mobile, and fearing- to return home throug-h the Choc taw
nation, they too earnestly requested Bienville to send a com
pany of his soldiers with them for protection. Bienville,
seeing- so favorable opportunity of winning- the friendship
of the Chickasaws, and hoping- thus to seduce them from
their alliance to the English to that of the French, cheerfully
complied to their request by sending- his brother, Cha-
teaug-ne, to escort them through the Choctaw nation, which
he safely did. But the cause and result of this war have
long- since paased with its participants into the silence Of the
unknown past.

Charles Gayarre (Vol. 1, p. 91) says: "In 1714 twelve
English men, with a large number of Muskog-ees, came
among- the Choctaws, and were kindly received by all the
towns except two, who fortified themselves and, while be-
seig-ed by the Muskogees, one night made their escape to
Mobile." From the above, it appears that the visit of the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. , 79

twelve Englishmen to the Choctaws was attributed to an in
vitation extended to them by a Choctaw chief; since in. the
following year, July 1715, Bienville sent messengers to the
Choctaws, demanding the head of Outoct-chito"(a corrup
tion of his true name, Oktak (oketark) (Prairie) Chitoh (Big
or Big Prairie)) "who had persuaded the English traders to
visit- their nation, and had thereby caused to be driven off
the inhabitants of two Choctaw towns, who were still in Mo
bile. The messengers returned to Mobile with the head of
the unfortunate Oktark Chitoh, which had been stricken off
by the Choctaw chiefs, who now were afraid of Bienville."

How different the Choctaws then from what they were
in 1696, when they closed their interrogatories to him with"
the bold assertion, "We believe our white brother talks with
a forked tongue." Alas! how rapidly had they fallen from a
state of perfect independence to that of servile dependence
within the period of three quarters of a century; the dupes
at first, only to become the abject slaves of a heartless tyrant.
Thus did the rivalry of France and England for the posses
sion of the North American continent, encouraged and em
boldened by their national jealousy and .innate hatred long
cherished each for the other, involve the deceived Indians in
continued war-fare with each other, as their respective
traders and emissaries throughout the length and breadth
of the Indian territories to contend for the patronage of the
Indians, and to drive each the other from thos positionse
where they had established themselves, ultimately to end in
ruin and destruction of the Indians. But the Choctaws,
though reduced to such servile extremities and seemingly
wholly under the arbitrary power of the French, were still
dreaded by many of the neighboring tribes, and even by the
English themselves.. As an illustration, in 1727, the English,
being at war with the Spaniards, used every means in their
power to influence the Indians to make war upon them, and
by their instigation a tribe, then known as Talapauches, had
laid seige to Pensacola (corrupted from the Chahtah words
Puska, bread, and Okla, people, Bread People, or people
having bread); but Pirier, who had succeeded Bienville in the
governorship at New Orleans, sent word to the Talapauches
(corrupted from the Choctaw words Tuli, rock or iron, and
Poo-shi, dust; and no doubt an ancient off-shoot of the Choc
taws) to return to their homes without delay, or he would
put the Choctaws after them; and they at once sought their
homes with much more alacrity than when they left them.
Such was the dread of the Choctaws and such the terror in
spired by their name alone.

In 1733, the Choctaws, as allies to the French, engaged

80 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

in a war with the Natchez, of which I will more particularly
notice in the history of that tribe.

On January 13th, 1733, the truly Christian philanthro
pist, Oglethorpe, with a hundred and twenty emigrants
landed at Charleston, South Carolina. , Afterwards sailing
down the coast, he anchored his vessel, "Anne," for a few
days at Beaufort, while he, with a small company ascended
the Savannah river to a high bluff on which the present city
of Savannah. Georgia, now stands, which he selected as the
place for the establishment of his little colony. And there,
February 1st, 1733, he laid the foundation of the oldest En
glish town south of the Savannah river. In a few days the
great chief of the Yemacaws, Tam-o-chi-chi, called upon the
strangers who had thus unceremoniously taken posession of
that portion of of his people's territories; and then and there
two congenial spirits, the one of European, the other of an
American, first met and- formed a friendship each for the
other that wras never broken; and at the departure of the
venerable old man, he presented to Oglethorpe a magnificent
buffalo robe upon the inside of which was painted with elabo
rate Indian skill, the head and feathers of an eagle, and said:
"Accept this little token of the good will of myself and peo
ple. See, the eagle is bold and fearless, yet his feathers are
soft; as the eagle, so are my people bold and fearless in war;
yet as his feathers, so are they soft and beautiful in friend
ship. The buffalo is strong, and his hair is warm; as the
buffalo, so are my people strong in war; yet, as his robe,
the}7 are warm in love. I and my people would be your
friends, beautiful in our friendship and warm in our love.
Let this robe be the emblem of friendship and love between
me and you, and mine and thine." Oglethorpe accepted the
present with its tokens; nor was the purity of those em
blems ever tarnished by a dishonorable act of Tomochichi
and his tribe or Oglethorpe and his colony, the one toward
the other.

It is evident that the Yamacaws were an ancient off
shoot of the Choctaws from the similarity of their language,
habits and customs. The very name of the tribe is plainly a
corruption of the Choctawr words yummakma (that one also)
Ka-sha-pah, (to be a part).

Also the name of their chief, Tamochichi, is also a cor
ruption by the whites of the Choctaw words, Tum-o-a-chi
(wandering away, from the Choctaws in the pre-historic oj
the past).

How well did the North American Indians read and
comprehend the symbolic language of Nature in all its dif
ferent phases ! What white man, whether illiterate or

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 81

boasting- the comprehensive genius of a United States Colonel
(Dodge) who was enabled to discover one race of God's
created intelligences (the North American Indians) to be
"absolutely without conscience," could have drawn such
grand sentiments from a buffalo robe and a bunch of eagle
feathers, since "the money that was in them" would have
absorbed every other consideration of his soul! Alas! that
"The love of money" should so engross every noble faculty
of our souls, that we could not, or would not, comprehend
those beautiful symbols found in nature, on earth and in
heaven, everywhere, and would not, or did not, heed them, as
they call with their ten thousand voices to jthe discharge of
our duty to the Indians and plead for the perfection of the
character of both the red and white race, as illustrated in
those grand sentiments of the no less grand old chief of the
Yummak ma kashapas. "I and my people would be your
friends, beautiful in our friendship and warm in our love!"
How sad ! how humiliating* the reflection that, during* four
centuries, the North American Indians have found no re
sponsive sentiment in the White Race, except in Penn and
his followers, Oglethorpe and his colony, the self-sacrificing*
missionaries and a few noble philanthropists, thoug-h the
same earnest and sincere plea was heard from the mouths
of every tribe, when first visited by the whites, echoing- from
the Atlantic's stormy shores in the east to the Pacific's rock-
bound coast in the distant west, "I and my people would be
your friends, beautiful in our friendship "and warm in our
love;" but only to fall upon the 'ear of our avarice as a tink
ling cymbal, since deaf to all else but the gratification of our
love of greedy gain, (that stranger to truth and justice, and
untouched by any emotion of humanity) which demanded
the extermination of the Indians, as the onlv guarantee to
sure possession of their country and homes ; and then called
for obloquy to cover their memory as an honorable justifica
tion for that extermination. And though Nature, every
where in all its phases from the finite to the infinite, and the
infinitesimal to the grand aggregate of knowledge, is full of
instruction, by which she would teach us our duty to God,
our fellow-men, and to ourselves, yet we heeded not the
symbolic whispers of her low, sweet plaintive voice pleading
in behalf of the Red Race; and in so doing, forfeited a privf-
lege that heaven's angels would have embraced with eager
ness and joy, for the gratification of our frenzied avarice.
On the 29th of May following, Oglethorre held a council
with the Muscogees at Savannah; for whom and all their
allies, Long Chief of the Ocona clan of Muscogees spoke
.and welcomed Oglethorpe and his tittle colony to their coun-

82 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

, try in the name of peace and friendship by presenting- to
him large bundles of the skins and furs of wild animals in
which their territories then abounded. And soon so great
and wide extended became the fame of Oglethorpe and 'his
followers as true and sincere friends to the Indian race, that
the chiefs of the Cherokees, from their distant mountain
homes, came to see and confer with Oglethorpe and his
colony, to them a prodigy, a white man and great chief and
yet a true man to his word pledged to an Indian. Naught like
this had been known since the days of Penn and his Quakers.
Was the bright morn of a glorious future about to dawn upon
their race dispelling the long night of darkness that had for
ages obscured their moral and intellectual vision? Was the
White Race truly to prove their benefactor, once so brightly
shadowed forth in the precepts and practice of the noble
Penn and his colony? Indeed it appeared as^the second
dawn of hope; but alas, only to nicker a moment as the feeble
and expiring taper, and then to go out to be seen no more, an
illusive dream even as the first had proven to be.

In August, 1739, a great council was convened at Coweta
in the Muscogee Nation by Oglethorpe, the Indians' undevi-
ating friend, in which the Muscogees, Choctaws, Chicka-
saws, Cherokees, Yummakmakashapahs and many others
were represented, and in peace and harmony equally par
ticipated. The faithful and honest old Tumoachi stood
among the most conspicuous of the various and distinguished
chiefs. Coweta was, at that time, one of the larg-e'st towns
of the Muscogee Nation, and many days' travel froin Savan
nah through the deep solitudes of a vast wilderness, un
trodden by the foot of a white man since the days of De Soto's
march, two hundred years before; but through which Ogle
thorpe and his little band of followers fearlessly and safely
traveled, to fulfill his engagement with the unknown Indians
there in council to assemble. When it was learned that he
had arrived near Coweta, a deputation of chiefs, representa
tives of the respective tribes assembled, met and escorted
him to the town with unfeigned manifestations of pride and
joy. The next day the council convened, and remained in
session several days, during which stipulations of peace
and friendship were ratified, and free trade and friendly
intercourse to all established, to the mutual satisfaction
and delight of both red and white; after which the Grand
Finale was performed, the solemn ceremonv of drinking the
"Black drink,'.' and smoking the Pipe of* Peace; in all of
vyhich the noble Oglethorpe participated, to the great de
light and satisfaction of the admiring Indians; then, after the
closing ceremony of bidding adieu, all to their respective

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 83

"homes returned delighted with the happy results of the coun
cil. Oglethorpe was ever afterwards held in grateful remem
brance, and loved and honored by all the southern Indians;
and was known everywhere as the Indians' friend, and
everywhere regarded and received as such with implicit
confidence. How so? Because he was never known to
wrong them in a single instance; therefore their admiration
.and confidence for and in him had no limits.

The morn of the southern Indians' Christian era, as
professed by the Protestant world, dawned, according to an
cient Choctaw tradition, at the advent of Oglethorpe to this,
continent and the establishment of his colony on the banks
•of the Savannah; and was heralded by the two brothers who
so justly rank among earth's illustrious modern great as
preachers of the Gospel of the Son of God; viz: John and
Charles Wesley, who came with Og'lethorpe in 1733, and ac
companied him to his councils with the Indians, and there
preached the glad tidings of "Peace and Good will toward
men." Shortly after, John Wesley influenced the renowned
preacher, George Whitfield, to also come to America. In a
letter to Whitfield, John Wesley thus wrote: "Do you ask
what you shall have? Food to eat, raiment to wear, a house
in which to lay your head such as your Lord had not, and a
crown of glory that fadeth not away." Upon the reception
of which, Whitiield said his heart echoed to the call, and to
which he at once responded; and upon the return of the
Wesleys to England, he says in his journal. "I must labor
most heartily since I came after such worthy predecessors."

In 1734, Tumoahchi, with his wife and son and seven
Muscogee warriors accompanied Oglethorpe to George II.
and before whom Tumoahchi made a speech in that shrewd
and captivating manner so characteristic of the North Ameri
can Indians; which so pleased the king that he caused the
American chief and warriors to be loaded with presents and
even sent him and his wife and son in one of the royal carria
ges to Grovesend when he embarked to.Yeturn to his native
forest home. Shortly after his return home, the noble old
chief was taken sick, ancl was at once visited by W^hitfield,
who says: "He now lay on a Blanket, thin and meager, little
else but skin and bones. Senanki, his wife, sat by fanning
him with Indian feathers. There was no one who could talk
English, so I could only shake hands with him and leave
him." In a few days after, Whitfield returned to -the couch
of the dying chief and was rejoiced to find Tooanoowe, a
nephew of Tumoahchi present, who could speak English.
"I requested him," says Whitfield, "to ask his uncle whether
he thought he should die? He answered' 'I cannot tell.' I

84 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

then asked where he thought he would go after death? He
replied, 'to heaven.' But, alas, how can drunkards enter-
there? I then exhorted Tooanoowe, who is a tall, proper
youth, not to get drunk, telling- him that he understood^Eng-
lish,'and therefore would be punished the more if he did not
live better. I then asked him whether he believed in a
heaven, 'yes,' said he. I then asked whether he believed in a
hell, and described it by pointing to the fire He replied, 'No.'
From whence we may easily gather how natural it is to all
man-kind to believe there is a place of happiness, because
they wish it to be so; and on the contrary, how averse they
are to believe in a place of torment because they wish it not to
be so." But if the poor, unlettered, yet, generous and noble
hearted Tumoahchi, who knew nothing of the sin of drunk-
eness, was unfit for heaven because "how can a drunkard
enter there"? How unfit must be he who made him such, by
making the whiskey, then taking it thousands of miles to the'
before temperate Indian and teaching him to drink it! and
how inconsistent with reason and common sense, and how
insulting to the God of -justice it must be, for us to call our
selves Christians and the Indians savages! And if Tooanoo
we "would be, punished the more if he did not live better,"
since "he understood English" a little, what will be the fate
of us whose native tongue in English, and who, with all our
boasted attainments, led, influenced and taught them to
adopt and practice, by precept and example, our "civilized"
vices, but seldom instructed them in the virtues of the reli
gion of the Bible! Does not the just and merciful Redeemer
of the world of man-kind regard with much less approbation
all external professions and appearances, than do thousands
of his professedjollowers found among our own White Race?
Did he not prefer the despised but charitable Samaritan to
the uncharitable but professed orthodox priest? And does
He not declare that^hose who gave food to the hungry, enter
tainment to the stranger, relief to the sick, and had charity
(all of which are to-day, and ever have been, from their
earliest known history, the noted characteristics of the
North American Indians, though they never heard of the
name of Jesus) shall in the last day be accepted? When
those who boisterously shout Lord! Lord, valuing themselves
upon, their profess-ed faith, though sufficient to perform
miracles, but have neglected good works shall be rejected.
And though we have scarcely permitted the Indians, though
starving and pleading for moral, intellectual and spiritual
food, to pick up the crumbs that fell from our tables loaded
with professed virtues, yet we have displayed a wonderful
talent in traducing them and manifest a strange desire that.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 85

they should be falsely handed down to posterity as
not" embraced in the Hat of Him who said "Let

creatures
us make

Never did a North American Indian acknowledge that
he recognized in the white man a master; nor was ever an
emotion of inferiority to the white man experienced- by an
Indian. Nearly four centuries of unceasing effort by the
White Race have utterly failed to make the Indian even feel,
much less acknowledge, the white man as master.

In 1741, Bienville was superseded by Marquis de Van-
dreuil, to whom the Chickasaws sent a delegation to New
Orleans to treat for peace. But Vandreuil refused to treat
unless the Choctaws, allies of the French, were made parties
to the treaty. The Chickasaws then made an effort to in
duce the Chocta'ws to form an alliance with them, supported
by the English, against the French. But their design was
discovered and thwarted by the secret intriguing of Van-
.dreuil with Shulush Hum ma, (Red Shoe), then a noted Choc-
taw chief and shrewd diplomatist, and belonging to the clan
called Okla Hunnali, (Six People and living in the present
Jasper county, Mississippi, who had been favorably disposed
toward the English for several years; and finally, in 1745,
through personal interest alone it was thought, he went over
to the English; and, at the same time, innuencing'a .chief of
the Mobelans (properly, Moma Binah, or Mobinah, a clan of
the ancient Choctaws) to do the same with his warriors, and
also some of the Muscogees, all of whom were, at that time,
allies of the French. Shortly after, Vandreuil went from
New Orleans to Mobile, and there met twelve hundred Choc-
taw warriors in council assembled, with whom he made re
newed pledges of friendship bestowing upon them many
presents of various kinds. But Shulush Humma stood "aloof
and refused to participate in anv of the proceedings; and to
place beyond all doubt the position he occupied, he, a few
weeks after, slew a French officer and two French traders,
who unfortunate ventured into his village.

Thus the Choctaws were divided into two factions; at
first peaceable, but which finally culminated into actual civil
war through the instigations and machinations of both the
French and English. And thus the Chickasaws and the
Choctaws, blinded to their own national interests, were led
to destroy each other, the one in behalf of the English and
the other of the French; while both the English and French
under an assumed friendship, used them as instruments
-alone to forward their own selfish designs and self-in
terests, though to the destruction of both the misguided
'Choctaws and Chickasaws. Truly misfortune seems to

86 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

have set her fatal seal upon the North American Indians, and'
doomed them to eternal misery while upon earth, in contend
ing- with the White Race for the right to live and enjoy life
with the rest of mankind. Unhappy race! What heart so-
lost to every emotion of sympathy but weeps at the re
hearsal of your woes!

In 1750, still infatuated with the belief that the White
Race sought their interests, the Choctaws still remained in
two hostile factions, thirty of their villages adhering- to the
French, and only two to the English, who, in a terrible bat
tle which ensued, had one hundred and thirty of their war
riors slain, and soon after, were ag-ain defeated by the
French, with a party of Choctaws, and compelled to sue for
peace, while the English stood aloof and left them to fight
alone ag-ainst fearful odds, thoug-h their accepted friends.

Three years after (1753), De Vandreuil was succeeded
by Kerleree, who, in one of his dispatches, thus spoke of the
Choctaws: "I am satisfied with them. They are true to
their plighted faith. But we must be the same in our trans
actions with them. They are men who reflect, and who
have more logic and precision in their reasoning than is. sup
posed."

How true it is, that the above assertion of Kerleree, in
regard to the Choctaws, may be as truthfully affirmed of the
entire North American Indian race. And~ had that truth
been admitted and acted upon by the-White Race in all their
dealings with the Red Race from first to last, the bloody
charges that to-day stand recorded against us in the volume
of truth would not have been written.

November 3rd, 1762, the -King ' of France ceded to the
King of Spain his entire possessions in North America
known under the name of Louisiana; and at which time, a
treaty of peace was signed between the Kings of Spain and
France of the one party, and the King of England of the
other, by which France was stripped of all her vast landed
possessions to which she had so long and tenaciously laid
claim at the useless and cruel destruction of thousands of
helpless Indians who alone held the only true and just claim.
When the Indians learned of this treaty of cession, and were
told that they had been transferred from the jurisdiction of
the French to that of the English, whom they feared and
dreaded ten fold more than they did the French, they were
greatly excited at the outrage, as they rightly termed it; and
justly affirmed that the French possessed no authority over
them by which to transfer them over to the English, as if
they were but so many horses and cattle. Truly, as human
beings, as a free and independent people and as reasoning

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 87

men, how could they but feel the degradation of being- thus
bartered away as .common chattels, and feel the deep humi
liation that followed the loss of their national character and
national rights. Yet, how little did they imagine the still
deeper humiliation, degradation and woe that were in store
for their race! How little did they believe that they were
soon to be driven away by merciless intruders, from their
ancient and justly owned 'possessions and the cherished
graves of their Ancestors, to wander, they knew not where,
in the vain search of a pity and commiseration, never to be
found among their heartless oppressors and conquerors!
Alas! how else but broken-hearted can the surviving little
remnant be, when no words of consolation and hope ever
greet their ears ! How can they be industrious when that
industry but brings them in contact with the authors of all
their misfortunes and woes ! How can they forget their
wrongs and sow, unless it be to sow dragon's teeth with
the hope that warriors might spring up to avenge their blood.,
that vengeance justly claimed ! Did they not in all sincerity
believe themselves wrongfully oppressed? which they truly
were; and in resisting that oppression, did they do more
than any other Nation, under similar circumstances, has
done and will ever do, that claims the right to exist as a
Nation? They contended for that which they honestly be
lieved to be their birthright, and it was, both by the laws of
God and man. Could they have done otherwise, when they
desired and sought our civilization and Christianity ; but we
would grant it to them only upon the terms of yielding up to
us their country, their nationality, their freedom, their
honor, their all that makes life worth living? Have we not
treated them from first to last as inferior beings, and in our
bigoted egotism scorned them and pushed them from us as
creatures below our notice? Can we establish a just plea
upon the broad foundation of truth to sustain the right to
treat them as we have treated them, take their country from
them by the strength of arbitrary power, and call it honor
able purchase, and then annoy them by reiterated extortions
and oppress them to extermination?

In November, 1763, the Choctaws, Chickasa\YS, Chero-
kees, and Muscogees were, through their representative-
chiefs, assembled in council at Augusta, Georgia, with the
representative Governors of Virginia, North and South Car
olina, and Georgia. But two years later, August, 1765, the
Choctaws and Muscogees — inveterate enemies — commenced
a fearful and devastating war, which, acordingto their tradi
tions, continued six years with unabated hostility; and dur
ing which many battles were fought and heavy losses sus-

88 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

tained on both sides, yet each displaying- the most undaunted
and heroic bravery. But as they had no native historians,
the cause, the progress, the successes, the defeats, as Dame
Fortune alternately bestowed her favors upon the one and
the other, will never be known; for the long- period of those
six years of bloody strife is wrapt in the silence of the un
known past, and all that now may be written is contained in
"They lived; they foug-ht." Nor has much more been re
corded concerning the vicissitudes of the North American
Indian race, by their white historians; thoug-h "they killed,
they robbed" is but a counterpart of the mutations of the
White Race also.

k . Be it as it may, we find the Choctaw people, amid all their
vicissitudes and misfortunes, occupying-, all along- the line of
their kno\yn history, a prominent place as one of the five great
southern tribes, who have been justly regarded as being- the
most to be dreaded in war of all the North American Indians,
for their skill and invincible bravery; and the most to be ad
mired in peace for the purity of their friendship and fidelity
to truth. And to compare the present enfeebled, oppressed",
broken-hearted, down trodden, the still surviving- little rem
nant, to their heroic, free, independent, and justly proud
ancestors of two centuries ag-o, or even less than one cen
tury ago, is to compare the feeble light of the crescent moon
lingering upon the western horizon to the blaze of the sun in
the zenith of its power and glory. But what has wrought
the fearful change? Who hurled them from their once high
and happy state down to this low and wretched state of
humiliation and slavery? Truth points its unerring finger to
these LJnited States, and says as he to Israel's ancient king,
"Thou art the man." What the difference? None in princi
ple. The one, Israel's king, a murderer, to gratify a beastly
lust; the other, America's people, tyrant, to gratify a beastly
avarice. And yet we claim to advocate the right of freedom
and self government to all nations of people; and boldly hurl
our anathemas against the iron heel of England's oppression
of Ireland, and curse the greedy avarice of a heartless and
grasping landlordism that for years has sapped the vitals of
that unfortunate country and broken the spirit of its noble
people; while we are guilty of the same greedy avarice that
has broken the spirit of as noble a people as. ever lived;- and
against whom we have exercised the aggressive tyranny, and
made it a point to preserve towards them an attitude the
most commanding and supercilious, and against whom we have
long cherished and still cherish the basest and most unjust
prejudice. Alas, how inconsistent are we.

Many other tribes living in the same regions are men-

v HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 89

tioned by the earhr writers, but who, in comparison to num
bers and prominence as a people, fell far below the Choctaws,
Chickasaws, Cherokees, Muscogees, Seminoles and Natchez;
though it is reasonable to conclude that many of them were
offshoots of the above mentioned. But the cruel and bloody
scenes that marked the conflicts of the whites with the brave
warriors of these five nations of the North American Indians,
before they overpowered them by superiority in numbers,
skill and weapons of warfare and drove them from their
•ancient homes under the false plea of "fair and honorable
purchase," scattering along the whole line of their known
history, fraud, dissimulation, oppression, destruction and
death, clothe the character of this wonderful people in the
wildest romance and truly render them worthy heroes "of
fable and song; of whom it may truly be said that, in point of
numbers; in the magnitude and grandeur of their territories
abounding in every variety of game that could render them
truly the paradise of the Indian hunter; in their far sighted
sagacity; in their peculiar native eloquence; in their legends
and traditions handed down from generation to generation
through cycles of ages unknown; in their strange and mys
terious religious rites and ceremonies; in all that strange
and peculiar phenomena, that stamp the true Native Ameri
cans as the independent aud fearless sons of the forest, un
surpassed in daring and heroic deeds in defense of their
country, the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Muscogees,
Seminoles and Natchez stand unsurpassed by any other of
the North American Indians, or any other unlettered race of
people on earth.

Pickett, in his History of Alabama states: "In 1771, the
eastern district of the Choctaw Nation was known as Oy-pat-
oo-coo-la, signifying the 'Small Nation;' and the western dis
trict was called Oo-coo-la Falaya, Oo-coo-la Hanete and
Chickasaha," The four names are fair samples of the mis
erable corruption of the languages- of the North American
Indians every where, by the whites.

And in the above, Pickett is greatly in error in the word
Oy-pat-oo-coo-la signifying "Small Nation," if he uses it as
a Choctaw or Chickasaw word. In the first place there is 110
such word in either of their languages, and even admitting
there is, it cannot signify "small nation." The words of
both for small nation are Iskitini Pehlichika, small nation or
kingdom. "And the western district was called Oo-coo-la
Falaya, and Oo-coo-la Hanete and Chickasaha." It is evident
also that these three names are corruptions from Choctaw
words. The first being a corruption of the words Okla

90 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Falaiah, Tall People; the second, "Oo-coo-la Hanete," from
Okla Hunnali, People Six, or Six' People.

The third, Chickasaha, from Chikasah, Rebellion, all of
which were names of different clans of the ancient Choctaws.
There was also an ancient clan named Okla Jsskitmi, People
Small, or Small People, which, no doubt, was corrupted to
Oy-pat-oo-coo-la; if not, some linguist, other than a Choctaw,
or Chickasaw, will have to give its signification.

Alas; If the errors of our race were confined alone to
the orthography, orthoepy and signification of various In
dian languages, though as inconsistent and absurd as .they
are in that of the Choctaw, we might be excusable; but
when they enter into every department of our dealings with
that people, there can be no excuse whatever offered in justi
fication of them.

See the gross errors set forth in the publications re
garding the Indians from first to last, clothed in scarcely a
word of truth to hide their hideous deformity, so humiliat
ing to justice, and all in direct opposition to known truth
and common sense. The newspapers and periodicals of the
present day are full of the same old stereotyped edition of
vile calumniations and base falsehoods against that helpless
people, the latter of which stand in close and worthy prox
imity to that of the devil's to the mother Eve. Even that
class of literature devoted to the instruction af the young,
books and papers bearing the title of "School History of
the United States," "Youth's Companion," etc., are contami
nated with falsehoods and defamatory articles against the
Indians; the writers of: which seem determined that the
memory of the North American Indians MUST and SHALL de
scend from generation to generation to the one which shall
be the fortunate one to hear the tones of Gabriel's mighty
trumpet sounding a truce to longer defamation of the Red
Race; and thus escape the nauseating dose which its prede
cessors bave been forced to swallow; and though justice
calls upon these white slanderers of the Red Race to turn
their attention from the arduous labor attending the suc
cessful finding of a few defects in the Indians, to the correc
tion of the hideous sins of their own race, yet they heed not
her voice.

Before me lies a book bearing the title, "School History
of the United States," under the signature of "W. H. Ven-
able." by which its author would stuff the minds of the
present generation, and those to follow, with the false asser
tions and self-imagined erudition, in which he has displayed
as much knowledge of the North American Indians as might
reasonably be expected to be found in a Brazilian monkey if

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 91

writing- its views upon the characteristics of the Laplanders
in their icy homes. On page 17 of this so-called "Illumina
tion of the Youthful Mind," in the matter of Indian charac
teristics, is found the following1 absurdities: "The Ameri
can Indians were fit inhabitants of the wilderness. Children
of nature, they were akin to all that is rude, savage, and
irredeemable. Their number within the limits of what is
now the United States was at 110 time, since the discovery of
America, above four hundred thousand individuals, for the
Indian, hopelessly unchanging in respect to individual and
social development, was as regarded tribal relations and
local haunts, mutable as the wind."

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," there
fore his "Ipse dixit."

Again, (page 19) he affirms: "Stratagem, surprise, and
the basest treacherv were approved and practiced even by
the bravest." But what of the White Race? Did not Wash
ington and his generals "approve and practice deception,
surprise and stratagem" upon the British in fighting for the.
independence of these United States? Did not Oglethorpe
"approve and practice stratagem and deception" upon the
Spanish fleet, when he gave a Spanish prisoner his liberty if
he would deliver a letter to one of his own men who .had
deserted and fled to the Spanish ships, the particulars of
which are too well known to be repeated here? Did not Lee
and Grant, yea, every officer from general down to captain,
"approve and practice stratagem, deception and surprise,"
during our Civil war? and when an advantage, by these
means, was gained, was it not acknowledged as a grand dis
play of superior generalship and dubbed "Military Skill?"
When "practiced and approved" by the whites, they are
virtues; but when by the Indians, in their wars of resistance
against our oppression and avarice, they at once become
odious characteristics. But when and upon whom, did the
Indians approve and practice stratagem, surprise and the
basest treachery? alone upon their enemies in war; never
elsewhere. But we have alike "approved and practiced
stratagem and surprise" in our wars with them always, and
everywhere; and have, in numerous instances, approved
and practiced the basest treachery," upon them by false
promises, misrepresentations and absolute falsehoods of
such hideous proportions as to cause the devil to blush at
his^own impotency in the art, when trying to influence them
to enter into treaties with us by which we would secure for
ourselves their landed possessions, and all under the dis
guise of declared disinterested friendship, and deep-felt
interest in their prosperity and happiness; and I challenge

92 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

anyone to successfully refute the charge. Yet this man
would contribute his mite of misrepresentation and false
hood to assist others of his own congeniality, to hand down
the Indians to the remotest posterity as a race of people the
most infamous; but would have it remembered that he and
hjs fall below their merits — the white "children of the
Uord." \

Therefore, he thus continues his lecture to the children,
as set forth in his ephemeral history: "Language cannot
exaggerate the ferocity of an Indian Battle, or the revolting
cruelty practiced upon their captives of war." Surely this
sensitive educator of the young, never perused that truthful
little volume, bearing the name of "Our Indian Wards" as
written by a Christian philanthropist, W. Manypermy! But
thus he continues; "The very words tomahawk, scalping
knife, and torture scaffold fill the fancy with dire images;
and to say 'as savage as an Iroquois warrior' is to exhaust the
power of simile." But in impressing the youthful "fancy
with dire images'' while studying his "School History of
tomahawks, scalping knives and torture scaffolds" and in
delibly stamping upon their memories his emphatic "to say
as savage as 'ait Iroquois warrior' is to exhaust the powers
of simile," he is scrupulously careful not to mention, or even
drop a hint, in regard to the foul massacre of the friendly
Cheyenne chief, Black Kettle and his band by Gen. Custer
and his soldiers,; X,ov. 27th, 1868; of which Superintendent
Murphy, after the diabolical massacre, wrote the commis
sioner of Indian affairs; "It was Black Kettle's band of
Cheyennes. Black Kettle, one of the best and truest friends
the whites ever had among the Indians of the plains;" and of
the "horrible" butchery of the Piegan Indians, on the 23rd
of January, 1870, who were helplessly afflicted with the
small pox, and guilty of no offense except being Indians, but
in which assassination, one hundred and seventy -three In
dians were slaughtered in cold blood by the whites, without
the "loss of a man: ninety of whom were women, and fifty-
five of them children, none older than twelve years, and
many of them in their mothers' arms;" and though the
butchery <j| these unoffending and helpless human beings
merits the execration of all men, yet the actors in the bloody
scene lived to boast among their fellows "I too have killed an
Indian," though' that Indian was an infant in its mother's
arms; while their head was honored as the "Great" General
Sheridan, backed by General Sherman, at whose feet syco
phants bow and humbly solicit a smile from his august per
sonage, then die happy, if obtained, but in despair, if
refused. Merciful God! If the very words "tomahawlv,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 93

x

scalping knife and torture fill the fancy with dire images;
and to say as savage as an Iroquois warrior is to exhaust the
powers of simile," does not the butcher of helpless and un
offending Indian women and children by civilized whites
equally "fill the fancy with dire images"? and to say as sav
age as a Sheridan and Sherman in the blood-thirsty wars of
exterminating the Indians of the western plains, to protect
the white desperadoes in their depredations upon that help
less people, and thereby stick another feather in their cap of
war fame to conciliate shouts of the, .rabble, music more
sweet to their bloody senses than that of heavenly angels,
"is to exhaust every power of simile." In the name of truth,
justice and humanity, if what Mr. Many penny has revealed
in his " Our Indian Wards," a copy of which every lover of
truth, justice and humanity should purchase and read, as
jdue to the interests of truth, justice, religion and humanity,
is not enough to cause an indignant God to visit these United
States with his avenging hand, then indeed they have noth
ing to fear in regard to wrhat they must do. Be it as it may,
there is abundant reason to tremble, if we would reflect that
God is just.

On the 16th of February, 1763, the whole of Louisiana,
for which they had so long struggled, passed entirely from
under the" dominion of the French to that of the Engiish ;
and all evidences of their occupancy of the sea coast of Mis
sissippi, since Iberville first landed there on the 16th of Feb
ruary, 1693, are now only remembered as matters of history
and traditions of the long past.

In 1765, through the solisitation of Johnstone, then act
ing as governor, the Choctaws and Chickasaws convened in
feneral council with him at Mobile, at wrhich time were con-
rmed the former treaties of peace and friendship, and also
regulations of trade were established between them and the
English; and in 1777, the Choctawrs, the first time ever be
fore sold a small portion of their country then known as the
Natchez District, to the English Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, which lay on the Mississippi river and extended
north from the bluff then known as Loftus Cliffs to the
mouth of the Yazoo river, 110 miles above.

In June, 1784, the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Muscogees
convened in council at Pensacola, (corrupted from the Choc-
taw words Puska Okla, People with abundant bread) and
there made a treaty of peace with Spain.

Soon after, Alexander McGillervey, the famous chief of
the Muscogees, as representative of the Coweta claim of the
Muscogees, ^together with the Seminole.s, Mobelans (prop
erly^, Mobinahs)andTalapoosas (corrupted from the Choctaw

'94 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Words Tuli Pushi, Iron Dust) concluded a treaty v of peace
and friendship with the same nation.

At this time, the United States set up her claim over the
entire territories of'the southern Indians by virtue of the
English title, though the Cherokees, Choctaws Chickasaws
and Muscogees, whose landed possessions were more exten
sive than all the southern tribes combined; but out of which
she finally ousted them, though they had replenished the
feeble ranks of her army with their warriors, and helped her
out from under the yoke of British oppression fighting- un
der Gen. Wayne and Gen Sullivan, only to have her yoke of
oppression placed upon their necks in turn as a recompense
of reward for their services and as a memento of our "dis
tinguished" gratitude to them; while Spain claimed, at the
same time, the lion's part of their territories by virtue of her
treaties, not with the Indians, the legal owners, but with'
England and France; while the Indians In whom rested the
only true and valid title, gazed upon the scene of controversy
over their ancient domains, as silent but helpless specta
tors.

That the Choctaws were once a numerous people, even
years after the destruction of Mobinah, the chief town of
Tushkalusas Iksa or clan, by De Soto, there can be but little
room for doubt. Their ancient traditions affirm they were
at one time one hundred and fifty thousand strong, but some
allowance perhaps should be made upon that statement,
however, their territory, as late as 1771, extended from Mid
dle Mississippi south to the Gulf of Mexico; and from the
Alabama river west to the Mississippi river, embracing as
fine a country as the eye could possibly desire to behold;
and De Soto states he passed through towns and villages all
along- his route through their territory, as well as through
the territorities of other southern tribes. Roman states, in
his travels through the Choctaw Territory in 1771, he pass
ed through seventy of their towns. Rev. Cyrus Byington,
who was a missionary among the Choctaws for many
years previous to their exodus to the west, and had traveled
all over their country in his labors of love and mercy, com
puted their number," all told, at the time of their removal, at
forty thousand, but at which time six thousand died en route
many with cholera, and others with various other diseases
contracted on the road, as is well authenticated. I was in
formed, when traveling over their country in 1884, by an old
Choctaw with whom I was personally acquainted when living
east of the Mississippi, that many, when they first moved to
their present homes, settled contiguous to the pestilential
Red river, and in a few years four hundred of the colony

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 95

had died, and the rest moved away from that stream of death
. to other parts of their territory.

Picket, in his History of Alahama, says: "In 1771
there were two thousand three hundred warriors registered
upon the superintendent's books at Mobile, while two thous
ands were scattered over the country, engaged in hunting."
But that did not weigh the value of a poor scruple in sustain
ing the seemingly advanced position, that the Choctaws at
that time only numbered about forty-three hundred war
riors; as it is safe to say, the French did. not register a fifth
of the warriors, for several reasons: First, from their great
aversion to their numbers being known to the whites; sec
ond, their dread and superstitious fear of having their names
written in the "white man's books;" third, the great dis
tance that the homes of thousands lay from Mobile, but
few of whom ever saw the place; fourth, the missionaries
who traveled all over their country found their villages and
towns everywhere.; And if the French had twenty-three
hundred Choctaw warriors' names registered upon the pages
of their books, I feel confident, from my own knowledge of
the Choctaws over seventy years ago, in saying very few; if
any, of the owners of those registered names knew they
were recorded there. And if all be taken into consideration,
the six thousand, the lowest estimate, slain in the destruc
tion of Mobinah, then the great number that must have per
ished in their wars with the English and French, as allies
first to the one and then to the other; and their wars with
various other tribes; and the many that were killed and died
from disease when engaged in our Revolutionary war; and
the six thousand that died on their removal to the west in
1832-33; and the multiplied 'hundreds that died soon after
their arrival to their present place of abode, from diseases
contracted en route and from not being acclamated to their
new country; and in addition to all this', the many depress
ing influences they have labored under since they have had
to do with the White Race, and the terrible dispensation un
der which they have 'lived, they must, at an early period
have"" been a numerous people, or long since they would have
become totally eAtinct.

"The Severally Bill!" I was in the Indian Territory
and read a letter from an Indian delegate in Washington
City, to a friend in the Territory and was forcibly struck
with the shameful truth of one sentence "Congress can and
will pass any bill to destroy the Indians." Yet nothing
strange" in this, since rascality and debauchery characterize
that once pure and noble body, if even half be true that is
said about it, by those who have seen behind the curtains. I

96 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

also read another letter written by an Indian in the Territory
to a delegate of his people, then (Feb. 15, 1887,) in Wash
ington from which, by request and permission, I copied the
following- without alteration :
"Dear old friend:"

"Wounded and grieved over the action* of Congress and
the President, who gave the Indians his word (which should
be as his bond) to stand by us, when our rights were trepass-
ed upon. Behold now, his actions in the severally bill. Are
there no honest men, citizens of^ the United States? Alas,
even the highest in power .has no regard for his word 1
There must be very little honesty among them, and if God
forsakes us, we will soon be remembered only in story. God
knows, if we had only th& power that the United States have
I would be willing to resent the wrong and insult, if it should
be at the sacrifice of every drop of Indian blood that is1 cir
cling in our race." (All praise to that noble and patriotic
spirit), "Cleveland thinking" he might lose the next nomina
tion for President, is willing to sacrifice his word or honor
(whatever you may choose to call it) to be on the popular
side. Away with such hypocrisy! He should be a man of
some principle and stamina, but he lacks all of it.

"Dawes, when here, said he would do everything to ad
vance our cause; that he was surprised to see the intelligence
and evidences of progress existing among us. See too, what
he has done! God will surely damn such hypocrites. Poor
Mr. Brown, I feel sorry for him, standing alone, as it were,
in the cause of humanity and justice; but 'I hope he will not
feel disheartened in the good cause, .but will gather strength
from the ruins of broken treaties^ and shattered pledges,
made and violated by his so-called great and magnanimous
government. All honor and peace be his.

"We will ever feel grateful to him for the active part he
took in our behalf. Had there been a few more honest and
fearless men like him in Congress, we might have fared bet
ter. ^ Inch by inch, does Congress trespass upon and violate
the solemn vows rt bas made. Surely such an outrage is
almost enough to drive us to raise the tomahawk, and- die,
every one of us, in fighting for justice against such high
handed tyranny and insupportable oppression of our help
less and hopeless race. "

What patriotic heart but leaps with emotions of pride
at the heroic sentiments expressed in the above. Truth,
justice, humanity, Christianity, our honor and integrity as a
professed Christian people, backed by a just and righteous
God above, demand of us to proclain our fiat to the scoun-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. , 9/

drels that to-day so curse our country and disgrace us as a
people, in a tone of voice that shall be heard and, obe}red, in
the imperative command, Halt!

On June 22nd, 1784, the Spaniards convened a council
at Mobile, Ala., in which the Choctaws and Chickasaws were
largely represented, also a few other smaller tribes came
with their families. As usual on all such occasions, the
Spaniards, unexcelled only by the Americans afterwards,
lavished upon the Indians their flattery and presents, each
of equal value, with unwearied tong-ues and unsparing- hands,
thus to induce them to form a treaty of alliance and trade,
which wras successfully consummated. The last article of
this treaty then entered -into, confirmed, in the name 'of the
xSpanish King, the Indians in the peaceable possession of all
their territories within the King's dominions; and further
more, it was stipulated, should any of them be deprived of
their lands by any of the King's enemies, he would re
possess them with other lands within his territories equal
in extent and value to those lost. But as stipulations and
promises, never intended to be fulfilled, and cajolery
and flattery to deceive them into a trusting belief of true
friendship, were the means adopted and practiced by the
foreign nations that contended with each other for a portion
of the North American Continent, so they, as the vicissitudes
of war dictated, withdrew their interest in and protection
from the confiding Indians to whom, they had made so many
fair promis'es of protection, and manifested such high
tentions of sincere and disinterested friendship, and
hesitatingly assumed the right of transferring them to any
nation which their interest demanded without a care, or even
a thought, of the interests and welfare of the Indians; thus
conclusively proving that they, each haunted with the fear of
the other, using' every effort to secure and maintain the good
will of the Indians only for the purpose of interposing them
between themselves and their encroaching rivals, when it
was to their interests so to do.

The Spaniards again induced thirty-six of the most
prominent and influential chiefs of the Choctaws and Chick
asaws to visit them at New Orleans in 1787, where they were
received and entertained with the greatest manifestations of
sincere respect and friendship, by escorting tliem to public
balls and military parades, and the usual bestowal of pres
ents and flattery; nor did it ever occur to the Choctaws and
Chickasaws that all this was but for the purpose of rendering
them, their more easy prey, and their assumed friendship de
signed but to throw them off their guard, and thus conceal
their real intentions; thus they were induced to renew their

98 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

pledges of peace and friendship. to the Spaniards, by smok
ing- the pipe of peace in confirmation of their former treaty,
by judging- the actions of the Spaniards from the standpoint
of the integrity and honesty of their own hearts.

The first treaty made with the Choctaws by the United
States was at Hopewell, on January 3rd, 1786; and 'between
this and January 20th, 1825, seven additional treaties were
made with them; the second being' December 17th, 1801, in
which it was mutually agreed between the Choctaw Nation
and the United States Government, "that the old line of de
marcation heretofore established by and between the officers
of his Brittanic Majesty and the Choctaw Nation, shall be
retraced, and. plainly marked in such a way aiidnnanner as
the President may direct, in the presence of two persons to
be appointed by the said nation; and that the said line shall
be the boundary between the settlements of the. Mississippi
Territory and the Choctaw nation."

James Wilkerson, as commissioner of the United States;
and Push-kush Miko, (Baby Chief), and Ahlatah Humma,
(Mixed Red, i. e. Mixed with Red), as commissioners of the
Choctaw nation, did run and make distinctly this division
line, and made a report of the same, August 31st, 1803, as
follows: "And we, the said commissioners plenipotentiary,
do ratify and confirm, the said line of demarcation, and do
recognize and acknowledge the same to be the boundary
which shall separate arid distinguish the land ceded to the
United States, between the Tom big-bee, Mobile, and Pascu-
gola rivers* from that which had not -been ceded by the said
Choctaw nation."1

The names of the ancient Choctaws, as well as their
entire race, as far as I have been enabled to learn, were
nearly always connative referring1 generally to some animal,
and often predicating' some attribute of that animal. Such
names were easily expressed in sign language; as the ob-
jectiveness of the Indian proper names with the result, is
that they could all be signified by gesture, whereas the best
sign talker among deaf mutes, it is said, is unable to translate
the proper names in his speech, therefore resorts to the
dactylic alphabet. The Indians were generally named, or
rather acquired a name, and sometimes several in succession,
from some noted exploit or hazardous adventure. Names
of rivers, creeks, mountains, hills, etc.. were given with
reference to some natural peculiarity; for the Indian had "a
literature of his own, which grew every year in proportions
and value; it was the love of Nature, which may be developed
in every heart and which seldom fails to purify and exalt.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 99

Ignorance and prejudice call the Indians savages. I call
them heroes. You and I, reader, may not know where or
how they live. God does.

As before stated, the first treaty was made by the United
States with the Choctaw Nation on Jan. 3d, 1786. The follow
ing" Articles of this treaty were concluded at Hopewell, on the
Keowee River, near a place known as Seneca Old Town be
tween Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph
Martin, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States
of America, of the one part, Yockenahoma, (I give the names
of the Choctaws as recorded in the treaty, and also give their
corrections and significations), corruption, Yoknahoma;
Orig., Yoknihumma Land, Hoommar , Red, great medal chief
of Soanacoha, corruption of Sanukoah, pro. as Sar-nook-o-ah *
(I am mad); Yackehoopie, corruption of Yakni Hopaii pro. as
Yark-nih, (Land) Ho-py-ye (Land of the war chief, leading
chief of Bugtoogoloo, corruption of Bok Tuklo, pro. as Boke
(Creek) Took-lo (Two); Mingohoopari, corruption of Miko
Hopaii, pro. as Mik-o (Chief) Ho-py-ye (Leader as War Chief),
leading chief of Hashooqua, corruption of Hashokeah, pro.
as Harsh-oh-ke-ah (Even the aforesaid); Tobocoh, corruption
ofTobihEoh, pro. as Tone-bih Eoh (All Sunshine) great
medal chief of Congetoo, utterly foreign to the Choctaw
language; Pooshemastuby, corruption of Pasholih-ubih, pro.
as Par-sha-lih (To handle) ub-ih (and kill) gorget captain of
Senayazo; cor. of Siah (I am) Yo-shu-ba (as ah) Lost; and
thirteen small medal chiefs of the first-class, -twelve' medal
and gorget captains, commissioners plenipotentiary of all the
Choctaw nation, of the other part.

The commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States
of America give peace to all ,the Ghoctaw Nation, and.re-
ceive them into favor and protection of the United States of
America, on the following conditions:

Article 1st. — The commissioners plenipotentiary of all
the Choctaw Nation, shall restore all the prisoners, citizens
of the' United States (useless demand, as the Choctaws were
never at war with the United States, and never held any
citizen of the United States as a prisoner, but always were
their faithful allies) or subjects of their allies, to their entire
liberty, if any there be in the Choctaw Nation. . Thev shall
also restore all the negroes, and all other property," taken
during the late war, from the o^tizens, to such person, ancTat
such time and place, as the commissioners of the United
States of America shall appoint, if any there be in the Choc
taw Nation.

Article 2nd. — The commissioners plenipotentiary of all
.the Choctaw Nation, 'do hereby acknowledge the tribes and

\ 100 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

towns of the said Nation, and the lands with the boundary
allotted to the said Indians to live and hunt on, as mentioned
in the Third Article, to be under the protection of the.
United States of America, and of no other sovereign what
soever.

Article 3rd.— The boundary of the lands hereby allotted
to the Choctaw Nation to live and hunt on, within the limits
of the United States of America, is and shall be the follow
ing1, viz.: Beginning at a point on the thirty-first degree of
north latitude, where the eastern boundary of the Natchez
district shall touch the same ; thence east along- the thirty-
first degree of north latitude, being* the southern boundary
* of the United States of America, until it shall strike the
eastern boundary of the lands on which the Indians of the
said nation did live and hunt on the twenty-ninth of Novem
ber, 1782, while they were under the protection of the King*
of Great Britain: thence northerly along the said eastern
boundary, until it shall meet the northern boundary of the
said lands; thence westerly along the said northern boun
dary, until it shall meet the western boundary thereof:
thence southerly along the same, to the beginning; saving
and reserving for the establishment of trading posts, three
tracts or parcels of land, of six miles square each, at such
places as the United States, in Congress assembled, shall think
proper; which posts, and the lands annexed to them, shall
be to the use and under the government of the United States
of America.

Article 4th. — If any citizen of the United States, or other
person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of
s the lands hereby allotted to the Indians to live and hunt on,
such persons shall forfeit the protection of the United States
of America, and the Indians may punish him or not as they
please.

Article 5th. — If any Indian or Indians, or persons resid
ing among them, or who shall take refuge in their nation,
shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on
any citizen of the United States of America, or person under
their protection, the tribe to which such offender may be
long, or the nation, shall be bound to deliver him or them up
to be punished according to the ordinances of the United
States in Congress assembled: provided, that the punish
ment shall not be greater than if the robbery or murder, or
other capital crime, had been committed by a citizen on a
citizen.

Article 6th. — If any citizen of the United States of
America, or person under their protection, shall commit a
robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any Indian,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 101

-such offender or offenders shall be punished in the same
manner as if the robbery or murder, or other capital crime,
had been committed on a citizen of the United States of
America; and the punishment shall be in the presence of
some of the Choctaws, if any will attend at. the time and
place; and that they may have an opportunity so to do, due
notice, if practicable, of the time of such intended punish
ment shall be sent to some one of the tribe.

Article 7th. — It is understood that the punishment of
the innocent, under the idea of retaliation, is unjust, and
.shall not be practiced on either side, except where there is a
manifest violation of this treaty; and then it shall be pre
ceded, first by a demand of justice; and if refused, then by a
declaration of hostilities . (But wherein is this to benefit the
Choctaws, if, to the best of their 'judgment, "this treaty"
was violated by us, and their demand of justice was refused?
Could they hope to obtain justice "by a declaration of hostili
ties"? What a farce is such a futile attempt to display our
wonderful generosity to the Choctaws, when we have openly
violated every treaty made with them, whenever it was to
-our interest so to do, a truth we cannot deny, knowing the
folly they would be guilty of in declaring war against us
when \ve were as a thousand to one of them in every particu
lar as to advantage. Nor have we neglected to use those ad
vantages from 1786 down the passing years to^the present,
to the utter impoverishment and final extermination of 'the
too confiding Indians).

For the benefit and comfort of the Indians, and for the
prevention of injuries or oppressions on the part of the citi
zens or Indians, the United States in Congress assembled
shall have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the trade
with the Indians, and managing all their affairs in such man-
jier as they think proper.

Then wras inaugurated a system of fraud by which the
Choctaws were completely given into the hands .of a few
soulless white traders who fleeced their victims at will.

Article 9th. — Until the pleasure of Congress be known,
respecting the 8th article, all traders, .citizens of the United
States of America, shall have liberty to go to any of the tribes
or towns of the Choctaws, to trade with them, and they shall
be protected in their persons and property and kindly
treated.

Article 10. — The said Indians shall give notice to the citi
zens of the United States of America, of any designs which
they may know or suspect to be formed in any neighboring
tribe, or bv any person whomsoever, against the peace,
trade, or interest, of th^ United States, of America.

102 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

/ \

Article 11. — The hatchet shall be forever buried, and the
peace given by the United^States of America, and friendship
re-established between the said States on the one part, and
all the Choctaw nation on the other part, shall be universal,
and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors
to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship
established.

In witness of all and every thing herein determined, be
tween the United States of America and all the Choctaws, we,
the underwritten commissioners, by virtue of our full powers\
have signed this definitive treaty, and have caused our seals-
to be hereunto affixed.

Done at Hopewell, on the Keowee, third dav of Jan
uary, 1786 L. S. (Locus Sigilli) Place of the Seal.

BENJAMIN HAWKINS,
ANDREW PICKENS, ,
JOSEPH MARTIN.

Corruption: Yockenahoma, his x mark. Original: Yok-
ni Humma, pro. Yak-nih Hoom-mah Land Red.

Corruption: Yokehoopoie, his x mark. Original: Yak-
ni hopaii (as, hopy ye). Land of the Oar-chief.

Corruption: Mingo hoopaie, his x mark. Original: Mi-
kohopaii. Leader, as War-chief.

SECOND TREATY.

CONCLUDED DECEMBER I?TH, 1801, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.

S"

Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of
America, by James Wilkerson, of the State of Maryland,,
brigadier general in the army of the United States, Benjamin
Hawkins, of North Carolina, and Andrew Pickens, of Softth
Carolina, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States,
on the one part,, and the Mingoes, principal men and ;war-
riors of the Choctaw Nation, representing the said Nation in
council assembled, on the other part, have entered into the
following articles and conditions, viz.:

Article 1st. — Whereas, the United States in Congress,
assembled, did, by their commissioners plenipotentiary,
Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph Martin, at
a treaty held with the chiefs and head men of the Choctaw
Nation at Hopewell, on the Keowee, Julie 30th, 1786, give
peace to the said Nation, and receive it into, the favor and
protection of the United States of America; it is agreed by
the parties to these presents respectively, that the Choctaw

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 103

Nation, or such part of it as may reside within the limits of
the United States, shall be and continue under the care and
protection of the said United States; and that the mutual
confidence and friendship which are hereby acknowledged
to subsist between the contracting" parties, shall be main
tained and perpetuated.

Article 2nd. — The Mingoes, principal men, and warriors
of the Choctaw Nation of Indians, do hereby give their free
consent that a convenient and desirable wagon-way may be
explored, marked, opened, and made, under the orders and
instructions of the President of the United States, through,
their lands; to commence at the northern extremity of the
settlements of the Mississippi Territory, and to extend from
thence, by such .route as may be selected and surveyed un
der the authority of the President of the United States, until
it shall strike the lands claimed by the Chickasaw Nation;
and the same shall be and continue forever, a high-way for
the citizens of the United States and the Choctaws; and the
said Choctaws shall nominate two discreet men from their
Nation, who may be employed as assistants, guides, or
pilots, during the time of laying- out and opening the said
high-way, or so long* as may be deemed expedient, under the
direction of the officer charged with this duty, who shall re
ceive a reasonable compensation for their services.

Article 3rd. — The twro contracting parties covenant and
agree, that the old line of demarkation heretofore established
by and between the officers of his Britanic Majesty and the
Choctaw Nation, which runs in a parallel direction with the
Mississippi river, and eastward thereof, shall be retraced
and plainly marked, in such a way and manner as the Presi
dent may direct, in the presence of two persons to be ap
pointed by the said Nation; and that the said line shall be
the boundary between the settlements of the Mississippi
Territory and the Choctaw Nation. And the said Nation
does, by these presents, relinquish to the United States and
quit claim forever, all their right, title, and pretension, to
the land lying between the said line and the Mississippi
river, bounded south by the thirty-first degree of north lati
tude, and north by .the Yazoo river, where the said line shall
strike same; and on the part of the commissioners it is
agreed, that all persons who may be settled beyond this line
shall be removed within it, on the side toward the Missis
sippi, together with their slaves, household furniture, tools,
materials, and stock, and the cabins or houses erected by
such persons shall be demolished.

Article 4th.— The President of the United States may,
at his discretion, proceed to execute the Second Article of

104 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

this treaty; and the Third Article shall be carried into effect
as soon as may be convenient to the Government of the
United States, and without unnecessary delay on the one
part or the other, of which the President shall be judge; the
Choctaws to be reasonably advised, by order of the Presi
dent of the United States, of the time when, and the place
where, the re-survey and re-marking- of the old line referred
to in the preceding Article will be commenced.

Article 5th. — The commissioners of the United States
for and in consideration of the foregoing concessions on the
part of the Choctaw Nation, and in full satisfaction, do give
and deliver to the Mingoes, chiefs, and warriors, of the said
Nation, at the signing of these presents, the value of $2,000
in goods and merchandise, net cost at Philadelphia, the re
ceipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and they further en
gage to give three sets of blacksmith tools to the said Na
tion.

Article 6th. — This treaty shall take effect and be obliga
tory on the contracting' parties, as soon as the same shall be
ratified by the President of the United States of America,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof.

In testimony whereof, the commissioners plenipoten
tiary of the United States, and the Mingoes, principal men,
and warriors of the Choctaw nation, have hereto subscribed
their names and affixed their seals, at Fort Adams, on. the
Mississippi, this the 17th day of December, 1801, and of the
independence of the United States the 26.

JAMES WILKERSON,
BENJAMIN HAWKINS,
ANDREW Pic KENS.

Corruption: Tuskana Hopia, his x mark. Original:
Tushka -hopnii, Warrior of the War Chief.

Corruption: Toota Homo, his x mark. Original: Tobu
hum ma, made red.

Corruption: Ming*o Horn Massatubby, his x mark.
Original: Miko humma ubi (i, as ih) Red chief killer.

This treaty was also signed by twenty-two other Choc-
taws, whose names are omitted.

AGREEMENT.

CONCLUDED OCTOBER 17'rir, 1802, BETWEEN' THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.

A provisional convention, entered into and made by
Brigadier General James Wilkerson, of the State of Mary-

HISTORY OI^ THE INDIANS 105

land, commissioner for holding- conferences with the In
dians south of the Ohio river, in behalf of the United States,
on the one part, and the whole Choctaw Nation, by their
chiefs, -head men, and principal warriors, on the other
part .

Preamble: For the mutual accommodation of the par
ties, and to perpetuate that concord and friendship, which so
happily subsists between them, they do hereby freely, vol
untarily, and without constraint, covenant and agree:

Article 1st.— That the President of the United States
may, at his discretion, by a commissioner or commissioners,
to be appointed by him, by and with the advice and con
sent of the Senate of the United States, retrace, connect,
and plainly re-rnark the old line of limits, established by and
between his Britannic majesty and the said Choctaw nation,
which begins on the left bank of the Chickasaw-hay river,
and runs thence in an easterly direction to the right bank
of the Tombigbee river, terminating- on the same, at a bluff,
well-known by the name of Hacha Tiggeby (corruption of
Hacha toh bichi. You are very white,) but it is to be clear
ly understood, that two commissioners, to be appointed, by
the said nation, from their own body, are to attend the com
missioners of the United States, who may be . appointed to
perform this service, for which purpose the said Choctawr
Nation shall be reasonably advised by the President of the
United States, of the particular period at which the opera
tion may be commenced, and the said Choctaw commission
ers shall be subsisted by the United States, so long' as they
may be engaged on this business, and paid for their services,
during the said term, at the rate of one dollar per day.

Article 2nd. — The chiefs, head men, and warriors, of the
said Choctaw nation, do hereby constitute, authorize, and
appoint, the chiefs and head men of the upper towns of the
said nation, to make such alteration in the old boundary
line near the mouth of the Yazoo river, as may be conven
ient, and may be done without injury to the said Nation.

Article 4. — This convention shall take effect, and becorhe
obligatory on the contracting parties, as soon as the Presi
dent of the United States, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, shall have ratified the same.

In testimony whereof, the parties have hereunto set
their hands and affixed their seals, at Fort Confederation, on
the Tombigbee, in the Choctaw country, the 17th, of Octo
ber 1802, and of the independence of the United States the
twenty-seventh.

JAMES WILKEKSON.

In behalf of the lower towns and Chickasaw-hay.
\

106 ,. HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ^

Corrupted: Tuskona Hoopoio, his x mark. Original:"
Tushkahopaii. Warrior of the Prophet.

' Corruption: Mingo Hoopoio, his x mark. Original:
Mikohopaii. King- of the War-chief.

The names of twelve Choc taws are omitted who signed
this treaty.

AGREEMENT.

> CONCLUDED AUGUST 31st, 1803, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.

i /
To whom these presents shall come: ,

Know ye, that the undersigned commissioners plenipo
tentiary of the United States of America, of the one part, and
the whole Choctaw Nation of the other part, being- dulf au
thorized by the President of the United States, and by the
chiefs and head men of said Nation, do hereby establish, in
conformity to the convention of Fort Confederation, for the
line of demarkation recognized in said convention, the follow
ing metes and bounds, viz: Beginning at the channel of the
Hatche at the point where the line of limits between the
United States and Spain crosseth the same, thence up the
channel of said river to the confluence of the Chickasaw-hay
(corruption of Chikasahha) and Buckhatannee (corruption of
Buchchah, a range of hills) and Haiitah (to be. .bright) rivers,
thence up the channel of the Buchhatannee to Boque Hooma
(corruption of Bokhumma, Red Creek, thence up said creek
to a pine tree standing on the left bank of the same, and
blazed on two of its sides, about twelve links southwest of an
old trading path, leading from the town of Mobile to the
Hewanee towns, much worn, but not in use at the present
time. From this tree we find the following bearings and
distances, viz: south 54 degrees 30 minutes west, one chain,
one link, a blackgum, north 39 degrees east, one chain, 75
links, water oak; thence with the old British line of partition
in its various inflections to a mulberry post, planted on the
right bank of the main branch of Sintee Bogue, (cor. of Sinti
Bok and pro. as Seen-tih Boke, Snake Creek) where it makes
a sharp turn to the south east, a large broken top cypress
tree standing near the opposite bank of the creek, which is
about three poles wide, theaice down the said creek to the
Tombigbee and Mobile rivers to the above mentioned line of
limits between the tTnited States and Spain, and with the
same to the point of beginning; and we, the said commission
ers plenipotentiary, do ratify and confirm the said line of

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 107

demarkation, and do recog'nize and acknowledge the same to
be the boundary which shall separate and distinguish the
land ceded to the United States, between the Tombigbee,
Mobile and Pascagola rivers, from that which has hot been
ceded by the said Choctaw Nation. (Tombigbee, corruption
of Itombiikbi, Boxmaker; Mobile, corruption of Momabinah,
A lodge for all; Pascag'ola, corruption of Puskaokla, Bread
people). In testimony whereof, wre hereunto affix our
hands and seals, this 31st, day of August, 1803, to triplicates
of this tenor and date. Done at Hoe-Buck-intoopa, (corrup
tion of Hoburk, coward intakobi lazy) the day and year above
written, and in the 27th year of the independence of the
United States.

JAMES WILKEKSON.

""Corrupted: Mingo Pooscoos, his x mark; Original:
Mikopuscus (pro. Mik-o Poos-koosh) Infant King. ,

Corrupted: Alatala Hooma, his x mark. Original:
Alatalihhumma, (pro. Ar-lah-tah-lih hoom.mah.)
Witnesses present: Joseph Chambers, U. S. Factor.
Young Gaines, Interpreter,
John Bowyer, Capt. 2nd U. S. Regt.

We the commissioners of the Choctaw nation, duly
appointed, and the chiefs of the said nation who reside on the
Tombigbee river, next to Sintee Bogue, do acknowledge to
have received from the United States of America, by the
hand of Brigadier General, James Wilkerson, as a considera
tion in full for the confirmation of the above concession, the
following articles, viz.; fifteen pieces of strands, three rifles,
one hundred and fifty blankets, two hundred and fifty pounds
of powder, two hundred and fifty pounds of lead, one bridle,
and man's saddle, and one black silk handkerchief. (Thus
we have an exhibition of the wonderful generosity expressed
in the Government's reiterated "To give peace to all the
Choctaw nation," and the meaning of "and receive them into
favor and protection of the United States of America,"
Wonderful protection! to take advantage of their ignorance
in the value of their lands, and disposses them of hundreds
of thousands of acres for a few pounds of powder and lead,
a few blankets, a saddle and bridle, and lastly though not
least, "one black silk handkerchief."

Mingo Pooscoos, his x mark.
Alatala Hooma, his x mark.
Commissioners of the Choctaw nation.
Corrupted: Pio Mingo, his x mark Original:'
Pin Miko. Our chief.

Corrupted: Pasa Mastubby Mingo, his x mark. Origi-

108 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

nal: Pisahmiahubih Miko, (pro. Pe-sah-me-ah-ub-ih Miko.
To see, go ahead and kill the chief.)

In November, 1805, another portion of their country was
ceded to the United States; and in October, 1816, still another
portion; and October 18, 1820, another portion was ceded for
and in consideration of a tract of country west of the Missis
sippi river, being between the Arkansas and Red rivers, the
lines of which were to be ascertained and distinctly marked,
by commissioners for that purpose, to be accompanied by
such persons as the Choctaws might select. Again, January
20th, 1825, they ceded another portion of their lands, east of
the Mississippi river, to the United States. Then in Sep
tember, 1830, the climax of the white man's greediness as
far as the Choctaws w.ere involved, was reached, by forcing
that people to cede the last acre of land they possessed east
of the Mississippi river. And thus by hypocrisy, deception,
fraud, misrepresentation and unblushing falsehood, has the
octopus arm of white avarice seized in its insatiable
embrace the Indians' country from Maine to California, un
til scarcely enough is left them upon which to eke out a mis
erable existence; and yet, year by year, generation by
generation, the grasp widens and tightens, and creeps fur
ther and futrher upon them until with its stiff-necked, in
corrigible brutishness, its hissing is heard, throughout the
length and breadth of the land, vibrating upon that harp of a
thousand strings that still remains in tune to the same old
howl "Open to white settlement, open up to white settle
ment."

A TREATY OF LIMITS.

CONCLUDED NOVEMBER IbTH, 1805, BKTWKICN THK CHOCTAW
NATION AND THK UNITED STATES.

Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of
America, by James Robertson, of Tennessee, Silas Dins-
more, of New Hampshire, agent of the United States to the
Choctaws, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United
States, on the one part, and [the Mingoes, chiefs, and war
riors of the Choctaw Nation of Indians, in council assembled
on the other part, have entered into the following agree
ment, viz. :

Article 1st. — The Mingoes, chiefs, and warriors, of the
Choctaw Nation of Indians, in behalf of themselves and the
said Nation, do, by these presents, cede to the United States
of America, all the lands to which they now have or ever had

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 109

claim, lying- to the right of the following lines; to say, Be
ginning at a branch of theHumecheeto (Cor. of.Humma chitoh,
being greatly red), where the same is intersected by the
path leading- from Natches to the county of Washington,
usually called McClary's path, thence eastwardly along
McClar^y's path, to the east or left bank of Pearl river,
thence on such a direct line as would touch the lower end of
a bluff on the left bank of Chickasaw hay river, the first
above the JJiyoo wunnee (corruption of Hiohlib, Standing,
uni, berries) towns, called Broken Bluff, thence in a direct
line nearly parallel with the river, to a point whence an east
line of four miles in length will intersect the river below the
lowrest settlement at present occupied and improved in the
Hiyoo wunnee town, thence still east four miles, thence in a
direct line nearly parallel with the river to a point to be run
from the lower end of the Broken Bluff to Falukta bunnee
(corruption of Falakna, a fox squirrel, and bunna, one who
wants) on the Tom big-bee riyer, four miles from the Broken
Bluff, thence along the said line to Falukta bunnee, thence
east to the boundary between the Creeks and Choctawrs on
the ridge dividing the waters running into the Alabama from
those running- into the Tombig'bee, thence southwardly along
the said ridge and boundary to the southern point of the
Choctaw claim. Reserving- a tract of two miles square, run
on meridians an4 parallels, so as to include the houses and
improvements in the town of Fuket chee poonta, (corrup
tion of Fakit chipinta, and pr6. as Fah-kit che-pin-tah, Tur
key very small), and reserving also a tract of 5120 acres, be
ginning at a post on the left bank of Tombigbee river op
posite the lower end of Hatch a tigbee (corruption of Ha-
chotukni — pro. Har-cho-tuk-nih, Loggerhead turtle) Bluff,
thence ascending the river four miles front and two back ;
one half for the use of Alzira, the other half for the use of
Sophia, daughters of Samuel Mitchell, by Molly, a Choctaw
woman. The latter reserve to be subject to the same laws
and regulations as may be established in the circumjacent
country; and the said Mingoes of the Choctaw, request the
government of the United States to confirm the title of this
reserve in the said Alzira an,d Sophia.

Article 2nd. — For and in consideration of the foregoing
cession on the part of the Choctaw Nation, and in full satis
faction for the same, the commissioners of the United States
do hereby covenant and agree with the said Nation, in behalf
of the United States, that the said States shall pay to the said
Nation fifty thousand and five hundred dollars for the follow
ing purposes, to wit, forty-eight thousand dollars to enable
the Mingoes to discharge the debt due to their merchants and

110 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

traders (thus went the poor Choctaws' land and money, to a
set of white sharpers;) and also pay for the depredations
committed on stock and other property, by evil disposed
persons of the said Choctaw Nation; (but who were the "evil
disposed persons of the said Choctaw Nation"? No other
than the white refugees from the violated laws of the States,
who had fled to the Choctaw Nation, and of whose character
the Choctaws were wholly ignorant; they stole horses and
kille.d cattle, not belonging to the Choctaws for they feared
them, but belonging to the white traders, who charged
up their losses, duly exaggerated, to the Choctaws, thus
they were swindled and robbed by the shrewd, but not too
honest, white traders through a credulous government — the
truth in a nut shell.) 5 twenty-five hundred dollars to be paid
to John Pitchlynn, to compensate him for certain losses sus
tained in the Choctaw Country, and as a grateful testimonial
of the Nation's esteem. And the said States shall also pay
annually to the said Choctaws, for the use of the Nation,
three thousand dollars, in such goods (at net cost in Phila
delphia) as the Mingoes may choose, they giving at least one
year's notice of such choice.

Article 3d.— The commissioners of the United States,
on the part of the said States, engage to give to each of the
three great medal Mingoes Puckshuiinubbee (corruption of
Apucksheubih) Mingo Hoomastubbee (corruption of Humma-
ubi, Red Killer) and Poosshamattaha (corruption of Anuma-
ishtayaubih, a messenger of death), five .hundred dollars, in
consideration of past services in their Nation, and also to pay
to each of them an annuity of one hundred and fifty dollars
during their continuance in office. It is perfectly under
stood, that neither of those medal Mingoes is to share any
part of the general annuity of the Nation.

Article 4th. — The Mingoes, chiefs, and warriors of the
Choctaws, certify that a tract of land, not exceeding fifteen
hundred acres, situated between the Tombigbee river and
Jackson's creek, the front or river line extending down the
river from a blazed white oak, standing on the left bank of
the Tombigbee, near the head of the shoal, next above Ho-
bukenloopa (corruption of Hobachit Yukpa, a laughing
echo), and claimed by John McGrew, was, in fact, granted to
the said McGrew by Opiomingo Hesmitta, (corruption of the
words Hopoamikohimmittah, The hungry young chief) and
others, many years ago, and they respectfully request the
government of the 'United States to establish" the claim of
the said McGrew to the said fifteen hundred acres.

Article 5th. — The 'two contracting parties covenant and
agree, that the boundary, as described in the second article,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. Ill

shall be ascertained and plainly marked, in such way and
manner as the President of the United States may direct, in
the presence of three persons to be appointed by the said
Nation; one from each of the great medal districts, each of
whom shall receive for their service two dollars per day for
his actual attendance; and the Choctaws shall have due and
reasonable notice of the place where, and time when 'the
operation shall commence.

The first article is presumed to be meant. The second
does not designate a boundary :

Article 6th. — The lease granted for establishments on
the roads leading- through the Choctaw country, is hereby
confirmed in all its conditions; and, except in the alteration
of boundary, nothing- in the instrument shall affect or change
any of the pre-existing- obligation of the cortracting parties.

Article 7th. — This treaty shall take effect and become
reciprocally obligatory so soon as the same shall have been
ratified by the, President of the United States of America, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United
States.

Done on Mount Dexter, in Pooshapukanuk (corruption
of Pashiakona, Unto the dust) in the Choctaw country, this
the 6th of November, 1805, and of the independence of the
United States of America the thirtieth. '

JAMKS ROBE TSON,
SILAS DINSML Ni,

Commissioners.
Puchunmibbee, his x mark
Mingo Hoomastubbe, his x mark,
Pooshamattah, his x mark,

Great Medal Mingoes.
Chiefs and Warriors: —

Corruption Ookchummee, his x mark; original, Okchulih,
Tiller of the land,

Corruption Tushamiuboee, his x mark; Tusuhahmutu-
bih, to whoop and also kill, and thirty-one others.

A TREATY OF CESSION

CONCLUDED, OCTOBER 24TH, 1816, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATICS.

A treaty of cession between the United States of America

and the Choctaw Nation of Indians.

James Madison, President of the United States of Amer
ica, by General Coffee, John Rhea, and John McKee,

112 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Esquires, commissioners on the part of the United States,
duly authorized for that purpose, on the one part, and the
Mingoes, leaders, Captains, and warriors, of the Choctaw
Nation, in general council assembled, in behalf of themselves
and the whole Nation, on the other part, have entered into
the following- articles, which, when ratified by the President
of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Sen
ate, shall be obligatory on both parties:

Article Isti — The Choctaw Nation, for the consideration
hereafter mentioned, cede to the United States all their title
and claim to land lying1 east of the following1 boundary,
beginning- at the mouth of Oaktibuha (corruption of O-ka,
water, it-tib-ih, having fought) river, the Chickasaw boun
dary, and running thence down the Tombigbee river, until it
intersects the northern boundary of a cession made to the
United States by the Choctaws at Mount Dexter, on the 16th
of November, 1805.

Article 2nd. — In consideration of the foregoing cession,
the United States engage to pay to the Choctaw Nation the
sum of six thousand dollars annually, for twenty years; they
also agree to pay them in merchandize, to be delivered imme
diately on signing the present treaty, the sum of ten thou
sand dollars.

Thus we again see the Choctaws swindled out of their
lands, by getting only as many thousands of dollars for their
lands as they were worth in as many millions. But we had
taken them under our fatherly protection, and, as a matter
of course, they must pay for so great a favor and so great a
blessing.

Done and executed in full and open council, (but by
much misrepresentation and dissimulation, as will be here
after shown) at the Choctaw trading house, October 24th,
1816, and of the independence of the United States the forty-
first. JOHN COFFEE,

JOHN RHEA,
JOHN McKEE,
Mushoolatubbe, his x mark,
Pooshamallaha, his x mark,
Pukshunnubbee, his x mark,

TREATY.

CONCLUDED, OCTOBER 18, 1820, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.

A treaty of friendship, limits and accommodation, be
tween the United States of America and the Choctaw Nation

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 113

of Indians, began and concluded at the treaty ground,' in
said nation, near Doak's Stand, on the Natchez road.

Preamble: Whereas, it is an important object with the
President of the United States, to promote the civilization of
the Choctaw Indians, by the establishment of schools
amongst them; and to perpetuate them as a nation, by ex
changing, for a small part of their land here, a country be
yond the Mississippi river, where all, who live by hunting,
and will not work, may be collected and settled together:
And whereas, it is desirable to the State of Mississippi, to
obtain a small part of the land belonging to said nation; for
the mutual accommodation of the parties, and for securing
the happiness and protection of the whole Choctaw nation,
as well as preserving that harmony and friendship which so
happily subsists between them and the United States, James
Monroe, President of the United States of America, by
Andrew Jackson, of the State of Tennessee, Major General
in the army of the United States, and General Thomas
Hinds, of the State of Mississippi, commissioners plenipo
tentiary of the United States, on the one part, and the Min-
goes, head men, and warriors, of the Choctaw Nation, in full
council assembled, on the other part, hav& freely and volun
tarily entered into the following articles, viz.: to promote the
civilization of the Choctaw Indians, by the establishment of
schools among them, and to perpetuate them as a Nation,
and securing the happiness of the whole Choctaw Nation:

Article 1st. — To enable the President of the United
States to carry into effect the above grand and humane ob
ject, the Mingoes, head men, and warriors, of the Choctaw
Nation in full council, assembled, in behalf of themselves and
said Nation, do, by these presents,1 cede to the United
States of America, all the land lying and being within the
boundaries following, to-wit: Beginning on. the Choctaw
boundary, eastpfPearl'river,'at a point due south of the White
Oak spring, on the old Indian path; thence north to said
spring; thence northwardly to a black oak, standing on the.
Natchez road, about forty poles eastwardly from Doak's
fence, marked A. J. and blazed; thence, a straight line to the
head of Black Creek, or Bogue Loosa (original Bok Lusa),
thence, down Black Creek, or Bogue Loosa, to a small lake;
thence, a direct course, so as to strike the Mississippi o'rre-
mile below the mouih of the Arkansas river; thence, down
the Mississippi to our boundary; thence, around and along
the same to the beginning.

Article 3rd. — , To prevent any dispute upon the sub
ject of the boundary mentioned in the First and Second
Articles, it is hereby stipulated between the parties, that

114 HISTORY OF THK INDIANS.

the same shall be ascertained and distinctly marked by a
commissioner, or commissioners, to be appointed by -the
United States, accompanied by such person as the Choctaw
Nation may select ; said Nation having- thirty days previous
notice of the time. and place at which the operation will com
mence. The person so chosen by the Choctaws, shall act as
a pilot or guide, for which the United States will pay him
two dollars per day, whilst actually engaged in the performa-
tion of that duty.

Article 4th. The boundaries hereby established be
tween the Choctaw Indians and the United States, 011 this
side of the Mississippi river, shall remain without alteration
until the period at which said Nation shall become so civiliz
ed and enlightened as to be made citizens of the United States,
and Congress shall lay off a limited parcel of land for the
benefit of each family included in the Nation.

Yet, that "period at which said nation shall become so
civilized and enlightened as to be made citizens of the United
States," never was realized, since "the boundaries" did
not "remain without alteration" by the open violation of said
4th, article on the part of the United States, as will be fully
shown and established; proving that our professed desire
and vociferous declarations, concerning the civilization, the
moral and intellectual interest of the Choctaws, were myths,
palpable falsehoods, assumed and practised to deceive the
Choctaws and thereby take advantage of their credulity, as it
is manifested even unto the present day with unblushing
boldness in our dealing with the entire Indian race, feeling
the reproof of conscience in our injustice and inhumanity to
that unfortunate and helpless people, and our determination
to rob them of their last acre of land, as a wave separated for
a moment by the course of a ship that passes through it.

Article 5th.— For the purpose of aiding and assisting the
poor Indians, who wish to remove to the country hereby
ceded on the part of the United States, and to enable them to
do well and support their families, the commissioners of the
United States engage, in behalf of said States, to give to each
warrior a blanket, kettle, rifle gun, bullet mould and nip
pers, and ammunition for hunting and defence, for one year.
Said warrior shall also be supplied with corn to support him
and his family, for the same period, and whilst travelling to
the country above ceded to the Choctaw Nation." (Mirabile
dictu! When before, in all the annals of time, was there
such a display of munificence in the simple manifestation of
an expressed desire "to promote the civilization of the Chot-
taw Indians, and for securing their happiness and protec
tion." The bestowal of "a blanket, kettle, rifle gun, bullet

HISTORY OF TITE INDIANS. 115

mould and nippers." Wonderful! Indeed, did not the
angels of heaven look with profound astonishment at such a
display of human magnanimity in its effort "to promote the
civilization of the Choctaw Indians," and bring- them into the
folds of Christianity? Surely the devil may give up his chase
after the souls of the Choctaws, since they have such a lov
ing and powerful protector in the United States of America.
Magnanimous United States ! Well may we make the welkin
ring with our huzzas of Liberty, freedom and equal rights to
all people of earth's remotest bound, when in the magnani
mity of our Christian zeal "to promote the civilization of the
Choctaws," we made that munificent bequest of "a blanket,
flap, kettle, rifle gun, bullet moulds and nippers." and then
drove them to that distant wilderness, as far from the means
of being benefitted by the influences of Christianity as we
could drive them, there to be civilized and Christianized by
our remarkable munificent gifts.)

Article 6th. — The commissioners of the United States'
further covenant and agree, on the part of said States, that
an agent shall be appointed, in due time, for the benefit of the
Choctaw Indians who may be permanently settled in the
country ceded to them beyond the Mississippi river, and, at
a convenient period, a factor shall be sent there with goods,
to supply their wants. A blacksmith shall also be settled
amongst them, at a point most convenient to the population;
and a faithful person appointed, whose duty it shall be to
use every reasonable exertion to collect all the wandering
Indians belonging to the Choctaw Nation, upon the land
hereby provided for their permanent settlement.

Article 7th. — Out of the lands ceded by the Choctaw
Nation to the United States, the commissioners aforesaid, in
behalf of said States, further covenant and agree that fifty-
four sections of one mile square shall be laid out in good
land, by the President £>f the United States, and sold, for the
purpose of raising a fund, to be applied to the support of the
Choctaw schools, on both sides of the Mississippi river.
Three-fourths of said fund shall be appropriated for the
benefit of the schools here; and the remaining fourth for the
establishment of one or more beyond the Mississippi; the
whole to be placed in the hands of the President
of the United States, and to be applied by him,
expressly and exclusively, to this valuable object.
(But what was the result of this appropriation "fifty-
four sections" of their land to the establishing and
supporting "of the Choctaw schools, on both sides of the'
Mississippi river." In ten years after, when hundreds of
dollars, proceeds of the sale of the fifty-four sections of their

116 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

own lands,; had been used in establishing' schools, and these
schools were nourishing- all over their country, I speak of
that east of the Mississippi river, and though, in spite of
embarrassments, adversities and misfortunes, they \vere
making- the most rapid progress in civilization and Chris
tianity, a quietus was placed upon everything- by the United
States forcing' them to sell their entire land possessions to
them, and driving- them, by the unmerciful hand of arbitrary
power, to the distant wilderness in the west where they had
driven the former, there to civilize themselves by means of
a "blanket, flap, kettle, rifle g"un, moulds and nippers, 'v
while their schools and the "fifty-four sections of land" be
came thing's of the past to the Choctaw, to be heard of no
more by them ; and thus we sacrificed this trusting- people,
our faithful allies, to our avarice, more odious in all its feat
ures than even the nefarious proposal which Themistocles
sug-g-ested to Aristides, of burning" the ships of the allies at
the very time in which they were engaged in fighting
for the common liberties of Greece; since he was blinded
by the glare of military glory, but we by a sordid, debas
ing and degrading avarice.

Article 8th. — To remove any discontent which may have
arisen in the Choctaw Nation, in consequence of six thousand
dollars of their annuity having' been appropriated annually
for sixteen years^by some of their chiefs, for the support of
their schools, the commissioners of the United States oblige
themselves, on the part of said States, to set apart an addi
tional tract of land, for raising* a fund equal to that given by
said chiefs, so that the whole of the annuity may remain in
the Nation, and be divided amongst them. And in order
that exact justice may be done to the poor and distressed of
said Nation, it shall be the duty of the agent to see that, the
wants of every deaf, dumb, blind, ,and distressed Indian,
shall be first supplied out of said annuity, and the balance
equally distributed amongst every individual of said Nation.

Article 9th. — All those who have separate settlements,
and fall within the limits of the land added by the Choctaw
Nation to the United States, and who desire to remain where
they now reside, shall be secured in a. tract or parcel of land
one mile square, to include their improvements. Any one
who prefers removing, if he does so within one year from
the date of this treaty, shall be paid their full value, to be
ascertained by two persons to be appointed by the President
of the United States.

Article 1.0th.— As there are some who have valuable
buildings on the roads and elsewhere, should they remove, it
is further agreed by the aforesaid commissioners, in behalf

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 117

of the United States, that the inconvenience of doing so shall
be considered, and such allowance made as will amount to an
equivalent. For this purpose, there shall be paid to the
Mingo Puckshenubbe (original, A-pak-foh-li-chih-ubih), five
hundred dollars; to Harrison, two hundred dollars; to Cap
tain Cobb, two hundred dollars; to William Hays, two hun
dred dollars; to O'Gleno, two hundred dollars; and to all oth
ers who have comfortable houses, a compensation in the
.same proportion.

Article llth. — It is also provided by the commissioners
of the United States, and they agree in behalf of said States,
that those Choctaw chief sand warriors, who have not received
compensation for their services during the campaign to Pen-
sacola, in the late war, shall be paid whatever is due them
over and above the value of the blanket, shirt, flap, and leg-
gins, which have been delivered to them.

Article 12th. — In order to promote industry and sobriety
.-amongst all classes of the Red People in this Nation, but
particularly the poor, it is further provided by the parties
that the agent appointed to reside here, shall be, and he is,
hereby, vested with the full power to seize and confiscate all
the whiskey which may be introduced into said' Nation, ex
cept that used at public stands, or brought in by the per
mit of the agent, or the principal chiefs of the three dis
tricts.

Thus was the law of the Choc taws forbidding the intro
duction of anv kind and all kinds of spirituous liquors into
their country virtually abrogated, and their strenuous efforts
to keep the hideous hydra in its proper place, among its
makers and worshippers (the white man) proved unavailing
as the door was thus opened for the white smugglers — of
whom the agents were leaders.

Article 13th. — To enable the Mingoes, chiefs, and head
men/ of the Choctaw Nation, to raise and organize a corps of
light horse, consisting of ten in each district, so that good
order may be maintained, and that all men, both White and
Red, may be compelled to pay their debts, it is stipulated
and agreed, that the sum of two hundred dollars shall be ap
propriated by the United States, for each district, annually,
and placed in the hands of the agent, to pay the expenses in
curred in raising and establishing said corps; which is to
act as executive officers, in maintaing good order, and com
pelling bad men to remove from the Nation, who are not
authorized to live in it by a. regular permit from the agent.

Article 14th. — Whereas the father of the beloved chief
Mushulatubbee (original Mosholatubil, with whom I was
personally acquainted), of the lower towns, for and during his

118 HISTORY OF .THE INDIANS. .

life, did receive from the United States the sum of one hun
dred arid fifty dollars, annually;' it is hereby stipulated, that
his son and successor Mushulatubbee, shall annually be paid
the same amount during his natural life, to commence from
the ratification of this treaty. *

Article' 15th. — The peace and harmony subsisting- be-
tw.een the Choctaw Nation of Incfians and the United States,
are 'hereby renewed, continued, and declared to be perpet
ual.

Article 16th. — These articles shall take effect, and be
come obligatory on the contracting parties, so soon as the
same shall be ratified by the President, by and with the 'ad
vice and consent of the Senate of the United States.

In testimony whereof, the commissioners plenipoten
tiary of the United States and the Mingoes, headmen and
warriors of the Choctaw Nation, have hereunto subscribed
their names and affixed their seals, at the place above writ
ten, this the 18th, of October, 1820, and of the independence
of the United States the forty fifth.

ANDREW JACKSON,
THOMAS HINDS,

Commissioners..
Medal Mingoes:—

Corrupted: Puckshenubbee, his x mark. Original:
A-pak-foh-li-chihub-ih.

Corrupted: Poohawattaha, his x mark. Original: Ar-
noom-pah-ish-tam-yah-ub-ih .

One hundred and twenty-eight names of Choctaws, who
signed this treaty are omitted.

COUNTY DISPUTE.

THE DISPUTE IN THE RIGHT OF OWNERSHIP OF GREEK COUNTY
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND TEXAS.

The petition of the Attorney-General of the United
States affirms that according to the treaty of Feb. 22, 1819
made by the United States and the King of Spain, which was
ratified two years later, and so proclaimed by both the Uni
ted States and Spain, and that by the third article of the
treaty it was provided and agreed that "the boundary line
between the two countries west of the Mississippi River
shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Sabine
River, in the sea, continuing north' along the,' western bank
of that river to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence by
a line due north to the'*degree of latitude where it strikes the-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 119

Rio Roxo of Natchitoches or Red River; then following" the
course of the Rio Roxo westward to the degree of longitude
100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then cross
ing the said Red River and running thence by a line due
north to the river Arkansas: thence following the course of
the southern bank of the Arkansas to its source in latitude 42
north, and thence by that parallel of latitude to the South
Sea.-- The whole being as laid down in Melish's map of the
United States, published at Philadelphia, improved to Jan
uary, 1, 1818.

"The two high contracting parties agreeing to cede and
renounce all their rights, claims and pretensions to the ter
ritories described by the said line. That is to say, the
United States hereby cede to his Catholic majesty and re
nounce forever all their claims, rights, and pretensions to
the territories lying west and south of the above described
line, and in like manner his Catholic majesty cedes to the
United States all his rights, claims and pretensions to any
territories east and north of the said line, and for himself,
his heirs and successors- renounces all claim to the said ter
ritory forever."

"The petition states that at the date of the conclusion of
the treaty aforesaid Mexico constituted a part of the Spanish
monarchy, but that Mexico, subsequently, in the year
1824, became and was established as a separate and indepen
dent power and government, and the boundary line defined
and designated in the treaty of 1819, aforesaid, thereby be
came in part the boundary line between the United States
and Mexico, all the territory of the state of Texas being* then
a part of the Mexican territory.

"The Attorney General's petition to the court then goes
on to review the different movements of the United States
and Texas commissioners to establish the line between the
disputed territory, and which all resulted in a failure -to
agree.

"The Attorney General further states that the said
state of Texas has, without any right or title thereto, claimed,
taken possession of, and endeavored to extend its laws and
jurisdiction over the said parcel or tract of land herein 'be
fore described, and does still claim, hold possession of, and
exercise certain jurisdiction over the same, and has excluded
the United States from possession of and jurisdiction over
the same in violation of the treaty rights of your oratrix as
aforesaid; all of which your oratrix charges is a manifest in
vasion of her sovereign rights and tends to the disturbance
of that amity and peace which ought to exist between the
authorities of the United States and the state of Texas.
f

120 __ .HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.

\ "The area of the disputed territory is one million, five
hundred and eleven thousand, five hundred and seventy six
and seventeen one hundreds acres, of land.

"The petition futher states that the south fork of Red
river as now named and delineated on the maps, is the Rio
Roxo or Red river delineated on Melish's maps, described in
the treaty of February, 22, 1819, and as the boundary line of
said treaty to the point where the 100th degree of west longi
tude crosses the same.

''And your oratrix futher states that under and by virtue
of the terms of the treaty of 1819, between the United States
and Spain, she became entitled to possession of and jurisdic
tion over all that parcel or tract of land which lies between
what has been herein designated as the Prairie Dog" town
fork or Main Red river, and the north fork or Red river,
and is more accurately described as the extreme portion of
the Indian territory lying west of the north fork of Red
river, and east of the one hundreth meridian of west
longitude from Greenwich; that she has never voluntarily
abandoned or relinquished such claim to title and jurisdic
tion, but has continually asserted the same at all times since
the ratification of said treaty of 1819 up to the present time,
and does still assert the the same; that said tract of land was
never subject to the jurisdiction or claim of Spain subsequent
to the treaty of 1819 aforesaid, nor was it subject to any claim
or jurisdiction on the part of Mexico after her independence
from Spain was secured and asserted."

The following clause in the petition of the Attorney-Gen
eral states that "in consideration whereof, and for as much
as your oratrix can only have adequate relief in the premises
in a court of equity; where matters of this nature are prop
erly cognizable, and in this court by original bill, to the
end for the purpose of determining and settling the true
boundary line between the' United -States and the state of
Texas, and to determine and put at rest questions whi^h
now exist as to whether the Prairie Dog Town fork or the
North fork of Red river, as aforesaid, constitutes the true
boundary line of the treaty of 1819, aforesaid, and whether
the tract or parcel of land lying' and being between two said
streams and called by the authorities of the state of Texas
Greer county, is within the boundary and jurisdiction of the
United States or of the state of Texas."

Dr. Gideon, Lincicum who lived in Columbus, Miss, several
years prior to the exodus of the Choctaws, was present at
the treaty held by General Jackson and General Hinds at a
place known as Doak's Stand, in the Choctaw nation, in the
fall of 1820.. The object of the United States in holding this

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 121

Ireaty was to exchange all that country where the five civil
ized tribes now reside south of the Canadian River for a strip
of territory from the lower and western part of the then
Choctaw nation, known as the Huchchalusachitoh — pro. as
asHuch-chah (River) loo-sah (black) che-toh (big-.) i. e. Big
Black River country. A great many Choctaw's were in at
tendance, and after General Jackson had read the commis
sion and the President's letter to them, in a lengthy speech
he explained the object and purpose for which they had been
called together. He declared to them, that^ "to promote
their civilization by the establishing of schools among them,
and to perpetuate them as a nation, was a constant solicitude
with the president of the United States." : (But the sequel
soon proved that ''solicitude" to be false.)

"To enable the President to effect this great national
.and very desirable object to accommodate the growing state
of Mississippi ^and thereby secure greater safet}r and protec
tion to the Choctaws and their 'seminaries of learning at
home, it was proposed bv him to exchange for a small part of
their lands here, a large country beyond the Mississippi
river, where all who live by hunting and will not work, and
who by the nature of their mode of life are widely scattered,
may be collected and settled together in a country of tall
trees, many water courses, rich lands and high grass,
.abounding in game of all kinds — buffalo, bear and deer, ante
lope, beaver, turkeys, honey, and fruits of many kinds, in
this great hunting ground they may be settled near together
for protection and to be able to pursue their peculiar vocation
without dang-er.

'Another great benefit to be derived from this arrange
ment would be the removal from among the people at home
who are alreadv inclined to progress and civilization of the
bad -example of those who, in their wild wandering propensi
ties do not care for improvement. The project recom
mends itself to the thinking portion of the industrious com
munity, while it will provide ample means for the protec
tion of the careless stragglers of the Nation.

'The tract of territory which the President proposes to
exchange for the Big Black river country here, lies between
the Arkansas and Red rivers. It is a large and extended
country. Beginning where the lower boundary line of the
Cherokees strikes the Arkansas river, thence up the Arkan
sas to the Canadian river fork; thence up the Canadian to its
source, thence due south to Red river, thence down Red riv-
«r to a point three miles below% the mouth of Little river
which enters into Red river from the north, thence on a di
rect line to place of beginning.

1-22 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

'This extensive rich territory is offered in exchange by
the President for the little strip of land in the lower part of the
present Choctaw Nation. It is a much larger territory than
the whole of your possessions this side of the Mississippi
river, and is certainly a very liberal proposition. What say
the chiefs and Choctaw people to this great offer?

"After the pipe lighters had finished handing the pipes-
around and order was again restored, Apushamatahah arose,
and, addressing himself to his own people first, told them
the man who had just finished his big talk was the great
warrior, General Jackson, of whom they had all so of ten heard.
Many of them had, no doubt, seen him and, like himself, had
served under him in many successful battles. His great
character as a man and warrior, in addition to the commis
sion he bore from the President of the United States, de
manded from the Choctaw people respectful replies from his.
propositions, and for that purpose he moved that .the council
adjourn until the middle of the day, to-morrow, which mo
tion was carried and the council adjourned.

"The chiefs and head men went into secret council that
night, where they very deliberately discussed the merits of
the propositions that "had been made by the United States
commissioners. They considered it a wise and benevolent
proposition, and, notwithstanding that the land they offered
to exchange the large tract of western territory for was-
worth more to them at this time than two such countries as
the one they were offering, with the Choctaws, the thing
stood very differently, particularly in relation to the fixing
of a home for our wandering hunters in the midst of a game-
country. However, good as the proposition is, we. must in
this case adopt the white man's rules in the transaction and
get all we can from them. General Jackson is a great man,
but in his talk in making* the proposition to exchange coun
tries he has been guilty of misrepresentations which he
knows are such, and others which, perhaps, he is not ap
prised of their being false. Our plan is to meet him in the
treaty with his own policy and let the hardiest reap the
profits. If we can do no better we will take them at the offer
already made." "This much and the appointment of Apush
amatahah to do the talking, next day was the result of the
secret council.

"When at 12 o'clock the next day the council 'had assem
bled, the commissioners inquired of the chiefs if they liad
come to an y conclusion on the subject of the propositions
made to them yesterday in relation to the exchange of coun
tries? Apushamatahah arose and said that the chiefs and
leaders of his people had appointed him to reply to the com-

/ HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 123

missioners on the subject. He remarked that he fully ap
preciated the magnitude of the proposition and his incom-
peteiicy ito do it justice, especially while in contact with two
such master minds as he would have to deal with. He fur
ther remarked that when any business was intended to be
fairly and honestly transacted it made no difference as to the
capacity of the contracting- parties. One party might be a
great man as General Jackson, the other a fool, but the re
sult would be the same. The wise man in such cases would
protest the rights of the fool, holding him firm on safe gound.
From what he had already heard he had discovered that the
great transaction now about to take plnce between friendly
nations, was not to be conducted on those equitable princi
ples, and that it would not be safe for him, fool as he was, to
rely upon any such expectations. He was to come to the
contest with such powers as he possessed, do the best he
ould , and his people must be satisfied and abide the results
nd consequences.

The object and benefits to be derived by the United
States were very great and desirable, or they would not
have sent two of their greatest warrior generals to conduct
the treaty in their behalf. He was friendly toward the
United States, and particularly to their two distinguished
agents, for he had served under them and side by side in the
hour of peril and deadly strife, had aided them in the acqui
sition of Florida and a considerable portion of the Muscogee
country with his manhood, and as many of his countrymen
as he could persuade to take part in the dangers of the en
terprise. Under all these considerations he intended to
strike the bargain in the exchange of countries with them if
he could. He thought it was one of those kind of swaps, if
it could be fairly made, that would accommodate both par
ties. He should do his best, and he hoped to succeed in
presenting the thing in such a form as to convince the com
missioners that 'further misrepresentation would be entire
ly unnecessary. 'D He then sat down.

"General Jackson arose and gravely remarked: 'Broth
er Push, you have uttered some hard words. You have ac
cused me of misrepresentation, and indirectly, of the desire
to defraud the red people in behalf of my government.
These are heavy charges, charges of a very serious charac
ter. You must explain yourself in a manner that will, clear
them up or I shall quit you.' "Apushamatahah then 'arose
and made a long explanatory speech, but its length precludes
its production here.

"The closing portion was, 'I shall take much pleasure
in. my explanation to render a plain and irrefutable inter-

124 . HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

pretation of what I have said, and which will present in a
very clear light the misrepresentations in relation to the
quality of the country west of the Mississippi and the size of
the country on this side of the great river.

'In the first place, he speaks of the country you wish to
obtain in the swap as a little slip of land at the lower part of
ihe present Choctaw Nation, whereas it is a very consider
able tract of country. He has designated the boundaries of
it, and I am very familiar with the entire tract of land it will
cut off from us. *

"In the second place, he represents the country he wishes
to exchange for the 'little slip' as being- a very extensive
country 'of tall trees, many water -courses, rich lands and
liigh grass, abounding in -game of all kinds, buffalo, bear,
elk, deer, antelope, beavers, turkey, honey and fruits of
many kinds.' I am also well acquainted with that country.
I have hunted there often, have chased the Comanche and
Wichita over those endless plains, and they too have some
times chased me there. I know the country well. It is in
deed a very extensive land, but a vast amount of it is poor
and sterile, trackless and sandy deserts, nude of vegetation
-of any kind. As to tall trees, there is no timber anywhere,
^except on the bottom lands, and it is low and brushy even
there. The grass is everywhere short; as for the game, it
is not plenty, except buffalo and deer. The buffalo, in the
western portion of the .tract described, and on the great
plains into which it reaches, are very numerous and easily
taken. Antelopes, too, are there, and deer almost every
where, except in the dry grassless; sandy desert There
are but few elk, and the bear are plenty only on the Red riv
er bottom lands. Turkey are plentiful on all the water
courses. There are, however, but few beaver, and fruit and
honey are a rare thing. The bottoms on the river are gen-
erally good soil, but liable to inundation during the spring
/•season, and in summer the rivers and creeks drv up or be
come so salty that the water is unfit for use. It is not at these
times always salty, but often bitter and will purge a man
like medicine.

'This account differs widely from the description given
by my friend yesterday, and constitutes what, in my reply
to him, I styled a misrepresentation. He has proven to me
by that misrepresentation and one great error that he is en
tirely ignorant of the geography of the country he is offering
to swap, and therefore I shall acquit him of an intentional
fraud. The testimony that he bears against himself, in re
gard to his deficiency of a knowledge of that far-off country
manifests itself in the fact that he has offered to swap to me

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. \ 125

an undefined portion of Mexican territory. He offers to run
the line up the Canadian river to its source, and thence due
south to the Red river. Now, I know that a line running"
due south from the source of the Canadian would never touch
any portion of Red river, but would go into the Mexican pos
sessions beyond the limits even of my geographical knowl
edge.'

"General Jackson interrupting him, said: 'See here,.
Brother Push, you must be mistaken. Look at this map.
It will prove to you at once that .you are laboring under a
great geographical error yourself,' and he spread out the
map.

"Apushamataha examined it very minutely, while
General Jackson traced out and read the names of the rivers"
for him. Apushamatahah said: 'T#e paper is not true.'
"He then proceeded to mark out on the ground with the
handle of the pipe hatchet, which he held in his hand while
speaking, the Canadian and the upper branches of Red
river, and said, holding the end of the hatchet handle on the
ground, 'there is the north,' then rapidly tracing a deep line
on the ground, 'here is the south, and, you see, the line be
tween the two points do not touch any portion of Red river,
and I declare to you that it is the natural position of the
country and its water courses. '

"You must be mistaken, said General Jackson; at
any rate, I am willing1 to make good the proposition I have
named.'

"Very well,' replied Apushamataha, 'and you must
not be surprised nor think hard of me if I call your attention
to another subject within the limits of the country you
designate west of the Mississippi, which you dp not seem to
be apprised of. The lower portion of the land you propose
to swap to us is a prett}T good country. It is true that as high
up the Arkansas river as Fort Smith the lands are good and
timber and water plenty, but there is an objectionable diffi
culty in the way. It was never known before, in any treaty,
made by the United States with the Red people, that their
commissioners were permitted to offer to swap off or sell •
any portion of their citizens. What I ask to know in the
stipulations of the present treaty is, whether the American
settlers you propose to turn over to us in this exchange of
countries are, when we get them in possession", to be con
sidered Indians or white people?'

"General Jackson replied and told the speaking chief
that, 'As for the white people on the land, it was a mere
matter of moon-shine. There were perhaps a few hunters-

126 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

/

scattered over the country, and I will have them ordered
off.'

'"I beg- your pardon,' said Apushamataha, 'there are a
great many of them, many of them substantial, well-to-do
settlers, with good houses and productive farms, and they
will not be ordered off.'

" 'But,' said General Jackson, 'I will send my warriors,
and by the eternal, I'll drive them into the Mississippi or
make them leave.'

" 'Very well,' replied the chief, 'and now the matter is
settled as far as the land west of the Mississippi river is
concerned. We will now consider the boundary and coun
try the Choctaws are to give to you for it, and if wre can
agree upon that the trade will be completed. You have de
nned its boundaries and they include a very valuable tract of
country of considerable extent, capable of producing corn,
cotton, wheat and all the crops the white man cultivates.
Now, if we do agree on terms and run this line, it must, as a
part of this contract, be very clearly understood, and put on
paper in a form that will not die or wear out, that no altera
tion shall be made in the boundaries of that portion of our
territory that will remain, until the Choctaw people are suf
ficiently progressed in the arts of civilization to become citi
zens of the States, owning land and homes of their own, on
an equal footing with the white people. Then it may be
surveyed and the surplus sold for the benefit of the Choctaw
people. '

/ "'That,' • said General Jackson, 'is a magnificent ar
rangement and we consent to it readily.'

'An adjournment of the council was then made until 10
o'clock next day to allow the chiefs and warriors time to dis
cuss the treaty ^ and the secretary of the commissioners for
preparing his big paper, the treaty, ready for the seal.

"Next day at the appointed time the council met and
General Hinds, one of the commissioners of the United
States, made a long talk to the chiefs and warriors.

"Apushamatahah was the speaking chief, and demanded
the following additional remuneration:

1st.— 'That the United States furnish each of those who
chose to go to the new country a good rifle, bullet mould,
camp-kettle, one blanket and powder and lead to last one year.
Also corn for one year.

2nd. — "Out of the land about to be swapped, fifty-four
sections of, a mile square shall be surveyed and sold to the
best bidder by the United States for the purpose of raising
a fund to support Choctaw schools, all to be placed in the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 127

hands of the President of the United States to be dealt out
by him for school purposes only in the Choctaw Nation.

3rd. — "The United States to pay for military services of
all the Choctaw warriors during- the campaign to Pensacola.

4th. — 'Payment to all having good houses and residing
on the ceded territory.'

';A11 the propositions were agreed to by the United
States commissioners. The commissioners first signed the
treaty, them Mushulatube, Apukshinubi and Apushimataha,
the head chiefs of the upper, middle and lower districts of
the Choctaw Nation. Then 100 leaders and warriors signed
with their names or x mark. All were pleased and satisfied.

"Apushimataha was then requested to speak. His effort,
now on record, would equal Daniel Webster in any of his fam
ous orations.

"He concluded «as follows": 'I most solemnly declare
that on my part the sacred words 'perpetual friendship,'
included in the last article of the treaty, shall never be vio
lated or suffer the slightest infringement. We have made
many treaties with the United States, all conducted in peace
and amacably carried out, but this last one, the greatest of
all. has been peculiar in its stipulations, giving another and a
stronger proof of the fostering care and proctecting inten-
titons of the United States toward their Choctaw friends.
In all our treaties we have been encouraged by them to in-
situte schools, urging us to prepare ourselves as fast as
possible to become citizens and members of that great
Nation. In the treaty which has been concluded to-day the
subject of schools has been more particularly urged, and
appropriations more extensively provided than any
other former treaty. The applauding murmurs on that
subject have passed through the camps of the Red people. It
meets their approbation. They will most certainly succeed.
It is a peculiar trait in the Choctaw character, that all the
national movements turn out to be successes. - I am pleased
to hear so many speaking favorably of school institutions.
It tells me that they will have them. It is a national senti
ment, and I here venture the prediction, for I am considered
a sort of a prophet any way, that the time will come, and
there are many children and some grown men here to-day,
who will live to see it, when the highly improved Choctaw
shall hold office in the councils of that great Nation of white
people, and in their wars with the Nations of the earth,
mixed up in the armies of the white man, the fierce war
wlioops of the Choctaw warrior shall strike terror and melt
the hearts of an invading foe. Mind that; Apushimataha has
this day declared it and his words of prophecy are not ut-

128 HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.

tered foolishly. To the chiefs, leaders and warriors of my
countrymen I may say: Return to your homes and forget,
not the words of this great treaty to which so many of you
subscribed your names with your white brothers to the same
big paper, this bright day. Nuktaniabilia, perpetual friend
ship, is placed on that paper. You have all agreed to stand
to it and manifested vour consent by having your names
placed on the big paper, where they will remain long after
you have all paseed away to the good hunting ground.'

Nuktaniabilia are corruptions of the whites and are not
the Choctaw words for "perpetual friendship." The

Original: Biliahittibaiachuffah. Pro. Be-le-ah (for
ever) it-tib-ai-ar-chuf-fah (to be one mind) i. e. Perpetual
friendship.

How easily could the sentiments and desires expressed
by the Choctaw people through their noble chief, have been,
realized but for that base venality which demanded their
country alone and their banishment to the then most inhos
pitable region then known upon the western continent, in
open violation of a thousand as sacred pledges as it is possi
ble for man to make to man. Surely we are not a govern
ment of law but of brute force impelled alone by that venality
that knows 110 principle of virtue whatever.

See the low duplicity and misrepresentation adopted by
Jackson to mislead Apushamataha, in regard to the coun
try west of the Mississippi River that he was endeavoring to
exchange with the Choctaws for a portion of their west; and
to-day, after three quarters of a century has past, it stands
as a living testimony of the honesty and truthfulness of the
noble Choctaw chief. And when lie pointed to the white set
tlers occupying a part of the offered land — mark the threat
of Jackson, "I will send my warriors, and, by the eternal, I'll
drive them into the Mississippi or make them leave;" which,
whatever name Truth and Justice deem it merits, was never
executed; and after remaining five years, the quiet of the
Choctaws was again disturbed on October 20th, 1825, by the
voice of the white man howling in Sinai thunder tones:
"More land!" "More land!" Again were they summoned
from their peaceful homes by the arbitrary voice of their
"Great Father at Washington" — great in the unsurpassed
ability of defrauding helpless Indians — to cede to the United
States that portion of their land still occupied by the afore
said settlers that the "truthful" Jackson had sworn "by the
eternal" to put into the ''Mississippi river or make them
leave." The United States got the land, as no doubt, it was
a pre-arranged plan to keep the whites upon it until the proper
time arrived, then take it; therefore, Jackson's "into the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Mississippi" was but a toot of his own horn, understood
alone by himself, though deceiving" the too confiding Apusha-
mataha. And in ten years after A-push-a-ma-ta-ha had
made the treaty of 1820 (the last he ever made) the United
States Government had defrauded (the word might be used
as can be proven) the Choctaws out of every acre of their
country east'of the Mississippi . Theold hero.had died in Wash
ington City six years before, and with him also died: "The time
will come when the highly improved Choctaw shall hold office
in the councils of that great Nation of white people, and in their-
wars with the Nations of the earth, mixed up in the armies
of the white man, the fierce war whoop of the Choctaw war
rior shall strike terror and melt the hearts of an invading
foe," and buried so deep down under the dirt and rubbish of
the white man's avarice, that left no hope of a resurrection
morn.

When stretched in his tent upon his bed of death he said
to Jackson standing near:

"Original, "Illi siah makinli su paknaka ta; pro. Il-lih se-
ah mar-kin-lih soo park-da'kah,ta; signifying, dead I am as
soon as me above.

"Original, napoh- chitoh tokahiechih; pro. narn-poh che-
toh to-kah-le-chih; sig. guns big shoot off." Which was done
according to his request.

Verily "Let Hamlet" also "be his eulogist:"
'How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties!
'In form and moving how express and admirable:'
"Let Mark Antony" also "write his epitaph:"

'His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up
And say to all the world: This was a man'."1

His Motto,

Onward career of duty;
His Canopy,

A conscious rectitude of purpose;
His lamp, truth;

His Motto,
Nil, nil, desperandum. Never, never, despair!

THE CHOCTAW CLAIM.

Ever since the dispute between Texas and the United
States commenced concerning the title to Greer county, the
Choctaw Nation -had two of its ablest men in Washington
over-hauling the old treaties and watching the movements of
both disputants. The United States by the Doak's Stand

130 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

treaty in the autumn of 1820 ceded all its territory ^ to the
Chocta-ws south of the Canadian river to Red river along- the
western line of the Indian Territory. The Cherokees had
been ceded all north of the Canadian. Texas claimed that
the Red river mentioned in the treaty of 1819 between the
United States and the King- of Spain is the north fork of Red
, The United States claimed that the south fork of
river is the true Red river. This is where the dispute
rarose .

"Should a future survey be made to determine the ques
tions of boundary lines, and the south fork of Red river be
-declared the true line, the Choctaw Indians would certainly
be the legal owners.

•''The map used by General Jackson in the tre'aty at
Doak's Stand was doubtless Melish's of 1818. That map is
doubtless on file in the Department of the Interior in Wash
ington settle the controversy. General Jackson promised
to make g-ood the lines shown up the map when the speaking-
-chief at the treaty questioned its accuracy.

~uThc survey, as to how far west the 10th meridian runs
lias never been made and forty years have passed without
•Jtbe boundary line being* known. This is why the Choctaws
Ihave never presented their claims to Greer County.

The United States conveyed to the "Choctaws, on the
38th of October, 1820, all of their lands west of Arkansas
between the Canadian and Red rivers, that was within the
limits of the United States at that time ; and on the 19th of
February, 1821, the United States conveyed a strip off of the
west end, of the same lands conveyed to the Choctaws by the
King- of 'Spain, in an exchange for the then Province of Flori
da. Hence this claim of the Choctaw Nation on what is now
•loiown as Greer County. In 1855, the Choctaw Nation ceded
to the United States all their lands, then in their possession
lying- west of the 100°, for the consideration of $800,000. Now
the Choctaws claim, and justly too, it seems, that they did
not make a cession, in 1855, of that portion of the land which
the United States sold to the King- of Spain, without their
consent and for which they have never received a dollar, as
it was not in their possession to make a conveyance— it then
heing- in the possession of Spain and thus beyond their juris
diction.

Thus the United States deal with her Indian Wards,
whom she had beguiled into her power.

ARTICLE OF A CONVENTION,
Made and concluded January 20th, 1825, between John C.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 131

Calhoun, Secretary of War, being- specially authorized
therefor by the President of the United States, and the
undersigned chiefs and head men of the Choctaw Nation
of Indians, duly authorized and empowered by said
Nation, at the City of Washing-ton, on the 20th day of
January, 1825,

Whereas, a treaty of friendship, and limits, and accom
modation, having- been entered into at Doak's Stand, on the
18th of October, 1820, between Andrew Jackson and Thomas
Hinds, commissioners on the part of the United 'States, and
the chiefs and warriors of the Choctaw Nation ; and,

Whereas, the second article of the treaty aforesaid pro
vides for a cession of lands, west of the Mississippi, to the
Choctaw Nation, in part satisfaction for lands ceded by said
Nation to the United States, according- to the first article of
said treaty; and

Whereas, it being- ascertained that the cession aforesaid
embraces a large number of settlers, citizens of the United
States; and it being" the desire of the President of the United
States to obviate all difficulties resulting therefrom, and
also, to adjust other matters in which both the United States
and the Choctaw Nation are interested. The following-
articles have been agreed upon, and concluded, between
John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, especially authorized
therefor by the President of the United States, on the one
part, and the undersigned delegates of the Choctaw Nation;
•on the other part:

Article 1st. — The Choctaw Nafion does hereby cede to
the United States all that portion of land ceded to them by
the Second Article of the treaty of Doak's Stand, as afore
said, lying- east of a line beginning- on the Arkansas, one
hundred paces east of Fort Smith, and running' thence, due
south to Red river; it being- understood that the line shall
constitute, and remain, the permanent boundary between
the United States and the Choctaws; and the United States
agreeing to remove such citizens as may be settled on the
west side, to the east side of said line, and prevent further
settlements from being- made on the west thereof.

Article 2nd. — In consideration of the cession aforesaid,
the United States do hereby agree to pay the said Choctaw
Nation the sum of six thousand dollars annually, forever;
it being- agreed that the said sum of six thousand dollars
shall be applied, for the term of twenty yearsA under the
direction of the President of the United States, to the sup
port of schools in said Nation, and extending- to it the bene
fits of instruction in the mechanic and ordinary arts of life;

132 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

when, at the expiration of twenty years, it is agreed that the
said annuity may be vested in stocks, or otherwise disposed
of, or continued, at the option of the Choctaw Nation.

Article 3rd.— The eighth article of the treaty aforesaid
having- provided that an appropriation of lands should be
made for the purpose of raising six thousand dollars a year
for sixteen years, for the use of the Choctaw Nation; and it
being- desirable to avoid- the delay and expense attending- the
survey and sale of said lands, the United States do hereby
agree to pay to the Choctaw Nation, in lieu thereof, the sum
of six thousand dollars, annually, for sixteen years, to com
mence with the present year. And the United States fur
ther stipulate and agree to take immediate measures to sur
vey and bring- into market, and sell, the fifty-four sections of
land set apart by the Seventh Article of the treaty aforesaid,,
and apply the proceeds in the manner provided by the said
Article.

Article 4th. — It is provided by the Ninth Section of the
treaty aforesaid, that all those of the Choctaw Nation who
have separate settlements, and fall within the limits of the
land ceded by the said Nation to the United States, and de
sire to remain where they now reside, shall be secured in a
tract or parcel of land, one mile square, to include their im
provements. It is, therefore, hereby agreed, that all who
have reservations, in conformity to said stipulation, shall have
power, with the consent of the President of the United
States, to sell and convey the same in fee simple. It is fur
ther agreed, on the part of the United States, that those
Choctaws, not exceeding- four in number, who applied for
reservations, and received the recommendation of the com
missioners, as per annexed copy of said recommendation
shall have .the privilege, and the right is herebv given to
them, to select, each of -them, a portion of land, not exceed
ing a mile square, anywhere within the limits of the cession
of 1820, where the land is not occupied or disposed .of by the
United States; and the right to sell and convey the same,
with the consent of the President, in fee simple, is hereby
granted.

Article 5th. — There being a debt due by individuals of
the Choctaw Nation to the late United States trading- house
on the Tombigbee, the United States hereby agree to relin
quish the same; the delegation, on the part of their Nation,
agreeing to relinquish their claim upon the United States, to
send a factor with goods to supply the wants of the Choctaws
west of the Mississippi, as provided for by the Sixth Article
of the treaty aforesaid.

Article 6th. — The Choctaw Ration having- a claim < upon

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 133

-the United States for services rendered in the Pensacola
campaign, and for which it is stipulated in the Eleventh Ar
ticle of the treaty aforesaid, that payment shall be made, but
which has been delayed for the want of proper vouchers,
which it has been found, as yet, impossible to obtain; the
United States, to obviate the inconvenience of further delay,
and to render justice to the Choctaw warriors for their serv
ices in that cam paign, do . hereby agree upon an equitable
settlement of the same and the sum of fourteen thousand
nine hundred and seventy-two dollars and fifty cents;
which, from the muster rolls, and other evidence in the pos
session of the third auditor, appears to be about the probable
amount due, for the services aforesaid, and which sum shall
be immediately paid to the delegation, to be distributed by
them to the chiefs and warriors of their Nation, who served
in the campaign aforesaid, as may appear to them to be
just.

Article 7th. — It is further agreed, that the Fourth Ar
ticle of the treaty aforesaid, shall be so modified, as that the
Congress of the United States shall not exercise the power
of apportioning the lands, for the benefit of each family, or
individual, of the Choctaw Nation, and of bringing them un
der the laws of the United States, but with the consent of
'the Choctaw Nation. ;

Article 8th. — Itappearing that theChoctaws have various
claims against the citizens of the United States, for spolia
tions of various kinds, but which they have not been able to
support by testimony of white men, as they were led to be
lieve was necessary, the United States, in order to a final
settlement of all such claims, do hereby agree to pay to the
Choctaw delegation, the sum of two thousand dollars, to be
distributed by them in such way, among the claimants, as
they may deem equitable. It being understood that this
provision is not to affect such claims as may be properly
-authenticated, according to the provisions of the act of 1802.

Article 9th. — It is further agreed that, immediately upon
the notification of this treaty, or as soon thereafter as may
be practicable, an agent shall be appointed for the Choctaws
west of the Mississippi, and a blacksmith be settled among
them in conformity with the stipulation contained in the
Sixth Article of the treaty of 1820.

Article 10th. The chief Puckshenubbee, (original, Apuk-
-shiubih) one of the members of the delegation, having died
•on his journey to see the Pres. and Robert Cole recommended
by the delegation as his successor, it is here agreed, that
the said Robert Cole shall receive the medal which apper-
lains to the office of chief, and, also, an annuity from the

134 EI.TORY OF THE INDIANS.

United States of one hundred and fifty dollars a year, dur
ing his natural life, as was received by his predecessor.

Article Ijth. — The friendship heretofore existing- be
tween the United States and the Choctaw Nation, is hereby
renewed and perpetuated.

Article 12th.— Tb- e articles shall; take effect, and be
come obligbory on t* contracting parties so soon as the
same shall be ratified by the President, by and with the ad
vice and consent of the Senate of the Unite States.

In testiseiiy whereof, the said John C. Calhoun, and the
said delegates of the Choctaw Nation, havo hereunto set
their hands, at the city of Washington, the 20th day of June,
1825. JOHN C. CALHOUN.

Corrupted: Mooshulatubbee, his x mark. Original:,
Mosholihubih.

ROBERT COLE, his x mark.
DANIEL McCuRTAiN, his x mark.
TUSHKA ANUMPULI SHALI his x mark,
. Pro. Tush-kah (wrarrior) Shah-lih (messenger.)
RED FORT, his x mark.

Corrupted: Nittuckachie, his x mark. Original: Ni~
J:ak (a, as ah) a chih— To suggest the day.

DAVID FOLSOAI.
J. C. MCDONALD, Talkative warrior.

According to traditional authority, the morning star of
the Choctaws' religious era, (if such it may be termed) first
lit up their eastern horizon, upon the advent of the two great
Wesleys into the now State of Georgia in the year 1733, as
the worthy and congenial companions of the noble Oglethorpe;
but also, it flashed but a moment before their eyes as a beau
tiful meteor, then as quickly went out upon the return to
England of those champions of the Cross, leaving them only
to fruitless conjecture as to its import; nor was seen again
during the revolutions of eighty-five long and weary .years.
Though tradition affirms, there were several missionaries
(Roman Catholic) among the Choctaws in 1735; and that tha-
Reverend Father Baudouin, the actual superior general of
the mission resided eighteen years among the Choctaws.
With these two above named exceptions, I have seen no rec-
ord'of the White Race ever manifesting any interest in the
southern Indians' welfare either of a temporal or spiritual
nature, from the earliest trading posts established among
them in 1670 by the Virginia and Carolina traders, down
through slowly revolving years to that of 1815; at which
time may be dated the establishment of the first Protestant
mission among the southern Indians. This mission, which
was named Brainard, was established among the Cherokees*

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 135

"by Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, under the jurisdiction of the Old
School Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, in Bostonr
Massachusetts, who arrived in that Nation, in company with;
his assistant laborers, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, January 13th r-
1815.

In 1818, Mr. Kingsbury, in company with Mr. and Mrs-
Williams, left Brainard in the charge of Rev. Daniel S. But-
trick (who arrived there January 4th, 1818, and remained as
a missionary among- the Cherokees until 1847, when hi&
health failing-, he went' to Dwig-ht Mission also in the Chero
kee Nation, where he died June 8th, 1851) andarrived in the~
Choctaw Nation near the last of June, 1818, and established
a mission in a vast forest of lofty trees, three miles south of
Yello Busha, a river (corruption from the Choctaw words.
Yaloba aiasha; Tadpoles abounding-) and about thirty miles-
above its junction with the Yazoo, (corruption of the Choc
taw word Yoshuba — pro. as Yoh-shu-bah, and sig, Lost),,
and 400 miles distant from Barnard, which he named Elliot,,
in honor of the Rev. John Elliot, that distinguished missionr-
ary among the Indians of the New England States.

They went from Brainard to the Tennessee river,, seven,
miles distant, by private conveyance, and there wrent by way."
of a boat, which had beenengaged to carry them to the1
Muscle Shoals. A wragon was also placed upon the boat,, by
which they went from Muscle Shoals to the Chickasaw:
agency, two hundred miles away, where they abandoned the:
wagon, andcrossed the country on horseback, directed alone-
.by little paths that led through thickets and canebrakes, and
safely arrived at the Yalobaaiasha settlement, where they
were hospitably received by Capt. Perry, (a half breed) and
many native families. On the following Sabbath Mr. Kings-
bury held a 'religious meeting and proclaimed salvation
through the Son of God, for the first time ever proclaimed in
the Choctaw Nation by the Pro'testant minister. Capt. Perry
also supplied them with a house until they were able to build
for themselves.

In June, 1818, Moses Jewell and wife, John Kanouse and
wife, and Peter Kanouse left New York for New Orleans,
and reached the Choctaw Nation, in the following August..
The first tree for the establishment of the Mission was
felled on August the 15th, 1818.

The Choctaws seemed to comprehend the benevolent,
designs of the missionaries and received them with every
manifestation of friendship and good will; though some mis
apprehension was indicated owing to the debased lives of the
white men (without a single white woman), with whom the

. . .,.. .

13S HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

.

had long- associated, as true representatives of -the r
White Race in toto. "' ' -y ^ ^4$T--''-

Soon after came A. V. Williams (brother of IJ. S. :>Wil-
Tiams, who came with Cyrus Kingsbury) and Miss Varnum -.••
and Miss Chase, whom Mr. Kingsbury met in New Orleans,
and there married Miss Varnum, with whom he had been
under matrimonial engagement before he entered the mis
sion. 'They all returned to Elliot in February, 1819; then a
mission church was organized on the last Sabbath of the fol
lowing- March, and the Lord's supper administered — the
first ever witnessed in the Choctaw Nation. Ten persons -.
composed the number of that church (all connected with the
mission), and the ten partook of that supper — a strange and
incomprehensible scene to the Choctaws, who gazed at the '
novel sight with unassumed wonder.

Within ten months from the time Mr. King-bury and ,
Mr. Williams and Mrs . Williams arrived at the Ya-lo-ba-ai-
a-sha settlement, seven log houses had been erected, and
completed, the largest 20x22, and the smallest, 12x16; and
also, had nearly completed a mill, stable and store-house,
and had nearly prepared timber enough for a school house,
kitchen, and dining-room, and had sawed by hand 9,000 feet
of cypress and poplar plank with which to make furniture,
floors, doors. &c., the principal labor of all which was done
by employed Choctaws directed by the missionaries — so
-eager were they to assist their white friends who had come
to live among them and bless them by their benevolent teach
ings; and before the school house was completed, eight
children, through a false rumor that the school was opened,
were brought over 160 miles to be entered. And thus the
mission, without a school house, and also pressed by a great
.scarcity of provisions, was greatly perplexed; since, if the
children were rejected, an unfavorable impression would be
the inevitable result, and if they were received, those in the
neighborhood would claim their equal rights to the same fa
vor. However, it was resolved, upon due -reflection, to
receive them as the less of the two evils, and a little cabin
was' appropriated for a school house, and the school opened
on the 19th of April, 1819, with ten pupils

On the first of August, 1819, the mission was strengthened
by the arrival of Dr Pride and Isaac Fish, who was a farmer
and blacksmith. Shortly after, the Choctaws convened in
national council, and which, Mr. Kingsbury, through earnest
solicitation of the Choctaws, attended. The subject of
schools was discussed during the session of the couricil, in
which Mr. Kingsbury took part, and among the other things
suggested,. also proposed that all who desired to have a schoo

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 137

^established among- them should signify that desire by sub
scribing money, or live stock, as they preferred. At once a
^subscription was opened in the council, and a considerable
amount of mony was subscribed; Apakfohlichihubi (sig. One
who encircles to kill), the ruling- chief, giving $200 of the
same, while others gave 90 cows and calves, with the promise
-of as many more yearly, which was faithfully fulfilled; and
thus the mission was, at once, amply stocked with cattle. A
farm was soon opened and every effort made to prepare for
"the reception and accommodation of as many pupils as might
seek to enter the school.

The Chickasaws, learning of the school, made appli
cation for their children to attend the school, also, to which
the Choctaw chiefs, though knowing that the children of the
applicants of their own nation could not all be accommodated,
finally give their consent, fearing if they refused they would
wound the feelings of their Chickasaw friends, but with the
following proviso: That all Chickasaw children whose father
or mother were Chickasaws, would be received into the
school, and no others. Such was the zeal manifested for
schools and churches among the Choctaws, from the opening
-of the first to the closing of the last, when despoiled of their
ancient homes and driven to seek others in the distant west.

Soon afterthe opening of the schooladeep gloom threw its
dark mantle over the mission in the sudden and unexpected
killing of aged Chickasaw woman, named Illichih (pro. as II-
lich-ih, and sig. to cause to die,)and who lived about two miles
from Elliot with a son (20 years of age) two daughters and
two little grand-daughters, and had endeared herself to
the missionaries by her many acts of kindness and much val
uable assistance. The tragic affair happened thus:

A Choctaw girl, who lived about thirty miles distant,
came, a short time before Mr. Kingsbury arrived, to visit
some friends living near where Elliot wras located. The girl
was taken sick, and an old Choctaw woman — a conjuring
doctress — proposed to cure her. She was at once employed
in the case. After giving her patient a variety of root and
lierb decoctions, internally and also externally applied for
several days, at the same time chanting her incantations and
going through her wild ceremonies over and around her pa
tient, she pronounced the girl convalescent and would re
cover; the father was duly informed of the happy change,
and came to take his daughter home; he remunerated the
apparently successful physician by giving her a pony, and
retired for the night intending to start for home with his
daughter the next day; but during the night, the daughter
suddenly became worse and expired in 24 hours. It was' at

1V38 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

once decided that her sudden demise was the result of a
isht-ul-bih (witch ball) shot from an invisible rifle in the
hands of a witch. Without delay her physician was con
sulted, who'pronounced Illichih to be the witch who had shot
the fatal bullet. Immediately the father with several other
men, all armed, went to the home of Illichih and entered her
cabin. She displayed her hospitality, so universal among- all
Indians, by setting- before them the best she had ; and after
they had partaken of her scanty refreshments, the father
suddenly sprang- to his feet and, seizing- her by the hair,
cried out. "Huch-ish-no fiopa uno chumpa; aholh-kun-na
. chish-o yokut, cha ish ai illih, (your life I boug-ht; a witch you.
are, and must die.") To which Illichih, realizing- her inevit
able doom, calmly replied: "Chomi holubih, cha ish moma
yimmih" (others lie, and you all believe.") In a moment she
was stretched upon, the floor a bleeding- corpse.

When her son, who was absent from home at the time of
the trag-edy, returned, his feeling's may be imagined, but not
described. He at once hastened to the missionaries, for
whom he had often \vorked, and told them his tale of woe.
Mr. Kingsbury immediately went to the tragic scene of death:
He found the mangled corpse of his old friend lying- upon
the floor, partially covered with a blanket, with the two-
daughters and grand-daughters sitting around it in the
deepest grief, and their wailing-s but feebly expressed the
anguish of their hearts. Mr. King-sbury had a coffin made,,
and the missionaries, with the five children, laid poor Illichih
in he r humble grave, there to await the resurrectipn morn..
The missionaries performed religious ceremonies at the
grave' and after they had placed the coffin in its last resting"
place, the relatives and friends of. the deceased placed all her
cloth ing and the little money she possessed, and her bedding-,
upon the coffin and filled up the grave — an ancient custom of
the Choctaws, as well as of all North American Indians, who
believed their deceased friends will have need of those thing's
in the the world beyond the grave.

Does the reader exclaim in iiidig-nant horror atxthe slay
ing of Illichih, "What inhuman wretches!" But be not too
hasty in your judgment and condemnation of the acts of the
then unenlig'htened Choctaws; but remember our professed,
civilized and Christian ancestors — the "Pilgrim Fathers"-
stand to-day guilty of the same charge, but sixty fold more
culpable (professing what they did) than the Choctaws; for,
as soon as the Choctaws had been instructed in the impro
priety and sinfulness of killing- any one for witchcraft, no-
life was ever afterwards sacrificed to avenge the death of a
bewitched relative or friend.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 1 39

On the following- Sabbath after the tragic death of Il-lich-
ih, Mr. King-sbury preached from the appropriate text,
"The dark places of the earth are full of the habitation of
cruelty." He spoke fearlessly but calmly to his Choctaw
audience of the errors and wickedness of their superstitions,
and the abhorrence of the Great Spirit in the slaying- of their
own people through the belief that they are witches, who
listened in profound silence-'' and with the deepest
attention; and though a few old women in the Yalobaaiasha
district fell as sacrifices before the superstition of witch
craft, after the establishment of the Elliot mission, yet by
the influence and exertions of the missionaries the horrible
practice was soon forever stopped. Thoug-h they believed
that there were white witches also, yet they never attempted
to kill a white witch, upon the grounds that the whites eat so
much salt, that a witch ball fell harmless when shot against
an Indian by a white witch.

But the" kindness and interest displayed by the mission
aries to and for Il-lich-ih quickly spread over the country,
and so won the respect and confidence of the Choctaws that
all who were in affliction sent for one or more of them; and
also manifested great interest in their teachings and anxiety
for the success of all improvements both in churches and
schools, as suggested by those men and women of God.

But alas, it is a melancholy and lamentable truth that the
most that the North American Indians (everywhere over this
continent) have learned from the whites, the missionaries
alone excepted, has been, and still continues to be, that of
their follies and vices. One of the follies so incomprehensi
ble to the ancient Choctaws was, and still is, that one day, near
the close of eaeh year, should be devoted by the "pale-faces"
to eating and drinking, dancing and frolicking, carousing
and fighting, called Christmas;— incomprehensible," since so
inconsistent with what the missionaries taught them what
the Bible reasons for rejoicing were, and in what way they
should be expressed to please God, as the advent of his Son
to earth to redeem man and bring him back from the paths
of hi i and folly to those of virtue and righteousness.

In 1820, Mr. Kino-sou ry started from -Elliot for the pur
pose of establishing a mission near the It-oom bih river, and
arrived at the home of David Folsom, sixty miles distant,
and then known by the name of "Puch-i A-nu-si," (pro. as
Push-ih (Pigeon) Ar-noos-ih (Sleep) or Pigeon Roost) from
the vast numbers of that beautiful bird that formerly roosted
there. There Mr. Kingsbury secured the voluntary assist
ance of Colonel Folsom to assist him in the selection of a
proper situation for the contemplated mission; after the sec-

140 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

ond day's travel they reached Major John Pitchlynn's— -a
white man who, by marrying- a Choctaw woman, had been
adopted by the Choctaws according- to their custom, and
-who, at that time, was acting- as interpreter for' the United
States Government, and, in conjunction with Colonel Folsom
and others, was a zealous advocate of the civil and religious
improvement of his people; while both expressed the utmost
gratitude to Mr. Kingsbury for his interest manifested
toward their people, and the bright prospect of the Choc-
iaws' future as presented by the missionaries in schools and
their preaching among and in behalf of their long neglected
people.

Alas, how 'great the contrast between John Pitchlynn,
Nathaniel Folsom, Henry Nail, Lewis LeFlore, John Col
bert, and others, who over a century ago, voluntarily united
themselves ' to the fortunes of the Choctaws in toto,
standing firmly and fearlessly to the interest of that ap
preciative people through their hopes and fears, joys and
sorrows.

After many days riding over the country, Mr. Kings-
bury, Col. Folsom, and Major Pitchlynn selected a place for
•the mission station on a high point overlooking a grand prai
rie towards the south and west, and on the south
banks of a stream flowing into a stream now known as Tibi
(corruption of the Choctaw word It-tib-ih — to fight or having
fought), where they at once erected a camp, preparatory to
the establishment of the missionary station— to which Mr.
Kingsbury gave the name Mayhew. A log cabin or two
were soon erected by the aid of the neighboring Choctaws,
also a garden and cornfield opened and planted, when Mr.
Kingsbury retraced his steps to Elliot and safely arrived
there March 29th.

Soon the news of the. establishment of another station,
and the opening of another school, echoed and re-echoed
throughout the Nation with astonishing rapidity; and appli
cations were immediately made from various parts of the
Nation for stations and schools also. And to prove the sin
cerity of their applications, councils were held, and appro
priations were made in various parts of the Nation, for
churches, schools, blacksmith shops, etc., and in 1820, an
nuities were appropriated to these objects to the amount of
six thousand dollars annually to run for sixteen years.
These annuities were for large tracts of land sold by the
Choctaws to the United States. Their country was at that
time divided into three districts, know as the western, north
-eastern, and southern; called Upper Towns, Lower Towns,
.and Six Towns. Each district had a ruling chief, and each

\

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 141

town a subordinate chief, captain, and warriors, who man
aged the local affairs of the people. Elliot was located in
the western district, over which, at that time, Pushamataha
fOri. A-num-pah-ish-tarn-yah-ub-ih, a messenger of death) was
the ruling) chief; Mayhew, in the north eastern, over which
Puckshenubbee(Orig A-piurk-fo-lich-ihub-ihTo encircle and
kill) was the chief and A-mb-sho-lihub-ih of the southern.

About this time (1820) the mumps followed by the
measles desolated many families and even towns and villages
in different parts of the nation, owing to the ig'iiorance of the
Choctaws concerning the nature of the new diseases and
their proper treatment.

In the same year Apakfohlichihubih and Amosholihubih,
with seven other chiefs, visited Elliot and were highly elated
at the progress of the pupils, and exhorted the children in
strains of native eloquence to learn the teachings of the
Holisso Holitopa (pro. as Ho-lis-soh Ho-le-to-pah, and sig.
Book Holy (Bible), which told them how to be good. In a
social conversation with Amosholihubih while at Elliot, Mr,
Kingsbury referred to the evils resulting to his people by
the use of whiskey; after listening attentively for some time,
he replied: UI never can talk with you good missionaries
without hearing something about the drunkenness and lazi
ness of the Choctaws. I wish I had traveled over the white
man's country; then I would know whether my people are
worse than every other people.- But I am determined it shall
no longer be thus said. I will summon a council, have a big
talk and stop the whiskey; for I am tired ofhearing my people
called every where lazy and drunkards." He was as" good as
his word.^ The council was convened; the "big talk" had,
a'nd the whiskey banished from the Choctaw Nation, and
kept away, until the Mississippi Legislature in 1830 abro
gated their laws, and turned, by the hand of arbitrary power,
the corrupting and devastating channel of Whiskey river
into their country, as the quickest means, of securing their
remaining lands, knowing their horror of the white man's
laws with his whiskey as the protector and sustainer of
human "Personal Liberty."

Early in the year 1820, an English traveller from Liver
pool, name\l Adam Hodgson, who had heard of the Elliot
mission when at home, visited the mission, though he had to
turn from his main route of travel the distance of sixty miles.
He, at one time on his sixty miles route, employed a Choc-
taw to conduct him ten or twelve miles on his new way,
which he did, then received his pay and left him to finish his
journey alone. Of this Choctaw guide Mr. Hodgson, as an
example of noble benevolence and faithful trust, states:.

142 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

"After going- about a mile, where we became confused in re
gard to the correct direction and were halting upon two
opinions, my guide suddenly and unexpectedly appeared at
my side, and pointed in the direction I should go, as he could
not talk English. I thanked him and again we parted; but
again becoming confused by a diverging path, half a mile
distant, as suddenly and unexpectedly, appeared again my
guide who had still been, silently and unobserved, watching
my steps. Again he set me right, and made signs that my
course lay directly toward the sun, and then disappeared;"
and by carefully keeping the course as directed by the
Choctaw, Mr. Hodgson safely reached the mission, where he
was warmly received by the missionaries. Yet the Indian is
still called a savage, who "cannot be educated out of his sav
agery." God pity such ignorance, and forgive their duplici
ty in assuming to be enlightened Christians, and yet seek to
hand down to the latest posterity a part of God's created In
telligences — the Red Race — as beings incapable of being
"educated out of their savagery."

Mr. Hodgson was duly introduced to the members of the
mission, and then to the school of native American pupils.
and expressed his surprise as well as heartfelt gratifica
tion with the account the teachers gave of the uncommon fa
cility with which they acquired knowledge. After remain
ing a few days, Mr. Hodgson left, and was accompanied sev
eral miles on his way to Brainard by Mr. Kingsbury, the
missionary station established five years previous, among
the Cherokees by Mr. Kingsbury and Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liams, as before stated.

Mr. Hodgson, in a letter written shortly after he left
Elliot, thus spoke of his interview with Mr. Kingsbury in
his own room at Elliot: "A log cabin, detached from
the other wooden buildings, in the middle of a boundless
forest, in an Indian country, consecrated, if I may de allow
ed the expression, by standing on missionary ground, and
by forming at once the dormitory and the sanctuary of a
man of God; it seemed to be indeed the prophet's chamber,
with the 'bed and the table, the stool and the candlestick.

"It contained, also, a little book-case, with a valuable
selection of valuable books, periodicals, biographical, and
devotional; among- which I found many an old acquaintance
in this foreign land, and which enabled Mr. Kingsbury, in
his few moments of leisure, to converse with many, "who
have long since joined the 'spirits of just men made perfect,'
or to sympathize with his fellow-laborers in Staheite, Africa,
or Hindoostan. About midnight we became thirsty with
talking so much; and Mr. Kingsbury proposed that we

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 143

walk to the spring-, at a little' distance. The night was
beautifully serene after 'the heavy showers of the preceding
nig-ht; and the coolness of the air, the fresh fragrance of the
trees, the deep stillness of the midnight hour, and the soft
light which an unclouded moon shed on the log- cabins of the
missionaries, contrasted with the dark shadows of the sur
rounding- forest, impressed me with feeling's which I can
never forget." In regard to the mission family, he said:
*kl was particularly struck with their humility, with their
kindness of manner towards one another, and the little at
tentions which they seemed solicitous to reciprocate. They
spoke very lightly of their privations, and of the trials which
the world supposes to be their greatest; sensible, as they
said, that these are often experienced in at least as great
degree, by the soldier, the sailor, or even the merchant.

Yet, in this country these trials are by no means tri
fling. Lying out for two or three months, in the woods,
with their little babes in tents which cannot resist the rain
here, falling in torrents such as I never- saw in England,
within sound of the nightly howling wolves, and occasionally
visited by panthers, which have approached almost to the
door, the ladies must be allowed to acquire some courage;
while, during many season of the year, the gentlemen can
not go 20 miles from home (and they are often obliged to go
30 or 40 for provisions) without swimming their horses over
four of five creeks. Yet, as all their inconveniences are suf
fered by others with cheerfulness, from worldly motives,
they would wish them suppressed in the missionary reports,
if they were not calculated to deter many from engaging as
missionaries, under the idea that it is an easy, retired li^e.
Their real trials they stated to consist in their own imper
fections, and in those mental maladies, which the retirement
of a desert cannot cure. I was gratified by my visit to
Elloit, this garden in a moral wilderness; and was pleased
with the opportunity of seeing a missionary settlement in its
infant state, before "the wounds from decent separation from
kindred and friends had ceased to bleed, and habit had ren
dered the missionaries familiar with the peculiarities of their
novel situation. The sight of the children also, many of
them still in Indian costumes, was most interesting. I could
not help imagining, that, before me, might be some Alfred of
this western world, the future founder of institutions which
are to enlighten and civilize his country, some Choctaw
Swartz or Elliot, destined to r disseminate the blessings of
Christianity from the Mississippi to the Pacific from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Frozen sea. I contrasted them in their
.social, their moral, and their religious conditions, with the

144 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

straggling white hunters and their painted faces, who
occasionally stare through the windows, or, with the half-
naked natives, whom we had seeri a few nights before,dancing-
around their midnight fires, with their tomahawks and
scalping knives, rending the - air with their fierce war-
whoops, or making the woods thrill with their wild yells.

"But they form a still stronger contrast with the poor In
dians, whom we had seen on the frontier, corrupted, de
graded, debased by their intercourse with English, Irish, or
American traders. It was not without emotions, that I
parted, in all human probability forever in this world, from
my kind and interesting friends, and prepared to return to
the tumultuous scenes of a busy world from which, if life be
spared, my thoughts will qften stray to the sacred solitudes,
of Yallow Busha, as a source of the most grateful and re
freshing recollections."

Soon afterMr. Hodgson left Elliot, a re-enforcement of
missionaries arrived at Elliot and Mayhew from Massachu
setts, viz: Messrs. Smith, Cushman, Bardwell, with their
families, Byington, Hooper. Misses Frisselle and Thacher
f rom Pennsylvania. They travelled together as far as Pitts-
burg, Pennsylvania, where (November 4th, 1820) they took
passage on a large flat boat called, at that day, an Ark, and
reached the Walnut Hills (now Memphis, Tennessee) about '
the last of Decem'ber, There Mr. Cushman and his family,
and Mr. Hooper, took a wagon, and safely arrived at May-
hew after being about three weeks upon the road; while Mr-
Smith and family and Mr. Byington and Miss Thacher re-
vmained on the boat until they reached the mouth of the Yoh-
shu-bah (Yazoo); and Mr. Bardwell and his family and Miss
Frisselle remained at the Walnut Hills to look after the in
terests of the property of the mission, which had been there
deposited to await the arrival of the Choctaw packet to carry
it to Elliot and Mayhew. But the river rising to such a
height as to render 'it impracticable to travel by water, Mr.
Bardwell, after waiting many days for the falling of the river,
procured horses upon which he and his family and Miss
Frisselle rode to Elliot through the wilderness by the way
of little paths alone.

A short time before the arrival of the above mentioned
missionaries at Elliot and Mayhew, Mr. Loring S. Williams,
who came with Mr. Kingsbury to the Choctaw Nation, trav
elled over .that Nation to learn the views of the Choctaw peo
ple in regard to the establishment of churches and schools
among them, and whom he found everywhere delighted with
the idea. In his travels he visited, among many others, a
point on the Old Natchez Trace; (to which I will again refer)

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ' 145

called French Camp, about half way between Elliott and
Mayhew where he eventually settled with his family, opened
a school and both preached to and taught the Choctaws, and
God greatly blessed him in his glorious work.
i_IZ'In tne meantime, Mr. Kingsbury met all their chiefs in a
great council near and explained to them the nature and de
sign of the missions being established in the Nation; and to
which a chief thus responded: "I be not used to make a
talk before white man, but when my heart feel glad, me can
say it. Me and my people have heard your talk before, but
never understand this business so well as now, that the
missionaries WORK FOR CHOCTAWS WITHOUT PAY; that they
leave their homes, and all for good of Choctaws. We are
ignorant. We know when day come, and when night come.
That be all they know."

Thus was manifested the eagerness of those ancient
Choctaws, as well as all their race from the days of Elliot,
the early Apostle to the Red man of North America, down
to Cyrus Kingsbury, the Apostle of the Choctaws;
and thus it would have been down to the pres
ent day, but for the interference with and pulling
down the labors of those men of God, by the hands of those
white men of the devil, whose howls are heard from the cen
tre to circumference of the land, even this day, "Open up to
white settlement ! Open up to white settlement !"

But now missions 'beg-an to be established in various
parts of the Choc taw Nation; and now was also seen the long
closed gates of an age of moral and intellectual darkness,
through wrhich even the wing of .conjecture is unable to ex
plore in its flight, swinging open to the first echo of the ap
proaching footsteps of those pioneers of the Cross bearing
and bringing the glad tidings of peace and good will to the
Choctaws, and commending the religion of Jesus Christ to
them, not more by their learning than by their life; and of
each of whom, both men and women, it truly might be said,
Israelites "in whom there is no guile." But the ever watch
ful and closely observing Choctaws at once learned to justly
appreciate the simple beauty of such lives as theirs, never
before seen nor even heard of, in all their knowledge of and
intercourse with the White Race. Consequently, they held
them in great respect and reverence; and even to this day,
though all have passed from their toils below to their rewards
above, Mr. Cyrus Kingsbury, the last of that noble little
band of Christian heroes and heroines, dying June 27th, 1871,
aged 83 years,. 7 months and 4 days, while their names live
in the memory of the present generation of the Choctaws;
since, in all the years of their long lives of labor and love

•\

146 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

among them, they did them no wrong-, but only good, and
thus proving themselves to be their real friends and bene
factors, who came to them, not with soldiers and guns as
their emblems of peace, friendship and good will, but with
the Bible alone by whose doctrines universal friendship,
peace and brotherhood may be successfully and permanently
established among all man-kind, of all nations and of every
tongue; and WAS successfully and permanently established
between the missionaries and-the Indians every where upon
the North American continent, from the first sermon
preached to them by John Elliot down the flight of years to
the last sermon preached to them by Cyrus Kingsbury. A
truth incontrovertible, too, clear too certain to admit of dis
pute. And had the love of God and one veneration of his pre
cepts, as set forth in the Bible, governed the American peo
ple in all their dealings with the Indians, as did those early
missionaries to that noble race of God's created intelligences,
they would, long since, have been a part and parcel of our
nationality filling their nook and corner of our confederacy
with gloriously redeemed manhood and womanhood that
would to-day triumphantly stand the scrutiny and verdict of
the civilized and Christian world. But alas, we tried to force
upon them the falsehood that they were inferior beings, and
justly failed; and will ever fail so long as a North American
Indian lives to hurl the idiotic notion back into our teeth,
though the howls of the modern idiots, who still strive to
diabolify the noble but unfortunate Red Race, disturb the
quiet of earth with "No good Indian but a dead Indian,"
"Once an Indian, always an Indian" exterminate the red
skins; shoot down the "bucks as rabid wolves," followed by
the doxology upon that "Harp aof thousands .strings." "Open
up their few remainidg acres of land to settlement for the
children of the Lord."

Many parents and friends attended the closing exercises
of the first session of the Mayhew school, and were delighted
at the improvement of tire children, and the day was a happy
one both to parents and pupils. Amasholih'ubih, accompa
nied by many of his chieftains and warriors, also attended
the examination, and made the following remarks to the
school: "Such a thing was not known here when I was a
boy. I had heard of it, but did not expect to see it. I re
joice that I have lived to see it. You must mind your teach
ers, and learn all you can. I hope 'I shall live to see our
councils filled with the boys who are now in this school, and
that you will then know much more thah we know and do
much better than we do." And he did live to see it. All re
turned to their homes highly pleased. At the opening of the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 147

next session of the school, Amosholih'ubih brought two of
his sons and a nephew to enter the school: also an aged Choc-
taw man brought his grandson and .daughter to enter the
school, and said to Mr. Kingsbury: "I now give them to
you, to fake them by the hand and heart, and hold them fast.
I will now only hold them by the end of their fingers."

To the examination at Mayhew in 1822, many Choctaws
came from a long distance, and the whole Nation, from cen
tre to circumference, seemed awake upon the subject of im
provement, morally, intellectually, and religiously. But
alas, the devil was not asleep, but secretly busy in trying to
thwart the good efforts of both the Choctaws and mission
aries, by influencing his abandoned white subjects, who had
fled from the religious restraints of their homes in the
States, to misrepresent the designs of the missionaries, and,
in a few instances, succeeded in inducing parents to take
their children from under the care and instruction of the
schools. But many Choctaws came the distance of 70 miles
to learn the truth of the reports; and, as might be expected,
returned satisfied of their falsity, and better pleased with the
missionaries, their churches and schools, than ever before;
and thus was the devil and his white subjects gloriously de
feated in their nefarious designs.

Soon after, a brother of Captain Cole (who died ten or
twelve miles east of Atoka in the present Choctaw Nation,
Indian Territory, in the year 1884, at the advanced age of
nearly four score and ten years) sent five children to school,
and a few months later sent another, but the school was so
crowded that the sixth could not be admitted, and for causes
not known, the father sent and took awray the five who mani
fested the greatest sorrow7 in having to leave the school.
But Captain Cole, after more room had been provided, sent
a petition with the signature of himself an'd eight chiefs
urging- the propriety of returning all the six children to the
school; and not only the six were returned, but also six
others, besides application for two others, one of whom was
his son, whom he gave to the missionaries, with the words:
"I want him to remain with you until he obtains a good edu
cation, if it takes TEN years."

Mrs. Kingsbury died at Mayhew, on the 15th day of
September, 1822, and wras buried in the Mayhew cemetery —
a true and self-sacrificing Christian woman, who gave up all
for the sake of assisting to lead the Red man of North Am
erica into the fold of her Divine Master. Her noble husband's
body rests from its earthly labors, in a Choctaw cemetery
near Old Boggy Depot, Indian Territory, among the people
he loved so well, and for whose good he labored so faithfully

148 HISTORY 'OF THE INDIANS.

for 53 long- and eventful years. She left two little boys,
Cyrus and John, the last mentioned also lies in the same-
cemetery near thegrave'of his noble father; the former, if alive,
I know not where he is. The last I heard of him, (years ago)
he was living- in Iowa.. Both were the playmates of my child
hood's years, never to be forgotten.

Ah"! How those names stir the memories that still clus
ter around my early youth! We were five missionary boys,
Cyrus and John, my two brothers and myself, all playmates
at that ag-e when we felt that we were "monarchs of all we
survey" and truly we reigned rig-ht royally. But with added
years came the "truth that the world Avas not so eag-erly
moulded to our wishes, for life soon taught its realities to us
as to all poor humanity whose days are full of sorrow, and
lives but a span. But.it rests me, to pause, here and there,
in the midst of hurry and care, to sit in this my ang-le-nook,
among- the present Choctaws Indian Territory, and ponder
o'er the joys of by-gone clays, when I was a lifth part of the
happy, boyhood group that each day gathered together in the
long ago. How well I remember it, and how warm my heart
grows at the thought. The cold adamantine wall that has
enclosed me in my contact with a busy and seemingly heart
less world crumbles to dust -and falls away, leaving me ag'ain
a tender, confiding, loving boy. Ah! That beautiful long
ago! when I received earth as full of sunshine without alloy,
and sweet song without a discordant note.

Those were days wherein the world seemed to have
reached its perfection; days, when all things seemed in uni
son with harmony, as if Nature would indulge her offspring;
when all things, animate and inanimate, seemed to give
signs of satisfaction and contentment; and even the horses
and cattle, scattered here and there in little groups, some
reposing on the green sward and others grazing around,
seemed to be indulging in tranquil thoughts. Ah ! the mem
ory of those days makes me long- once more to throw myself
into the arms of loving Nature, as in the days of yore; but
not as she smiles in well-trimmed woody groves or in culti-,
vated fields of grain; but Nature, as she was in that age when
creation was complete and unadorned by human hand. Yes,
I would go again, even in this my life's far decline — back to
the land whereof none then the history knew ; back even to .
the Red man, whom I am not ashamed to own I love; to
whom civilized vice was then unknown; where on every side
stretched away on illimitable forest scarcely to be distin
guished in the shadows of night from the hills beyond;
while the flowing streamlet, here and there, clearly gleamed
through the open glades as the ripple of night breeze gently

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. \149

#>

stirred the forest leaves. But if you, whose eyes may some
-day fall upon these, my written thoughts, I pray you perse
vere, since what I may have to tell you may not be without
interest, as I have not told it before nor will I again.

Though the death of Mrs. Kingsbury was a great
bereavement and trial to Mr. Kingsbury, yet he faltered not
in the cause of his Divine Master among* his loved Choctaws.
But two weeks after he started upon a long- journey in the
southern part of the nation to find suitable points for estab
lishing- churches and schools among- the Choctaws, that their
children mig-ht receive an education near home, and also
relieve the missions from all expenses except that of the sup
port of teachers. After several days travel, he arrived at the
home of the celebrated chiefs of the Choctaws, Apushamata-
hahubih, where he met Mr. Jewell; thence, they journeyed
together to a point one hundred miles distant, called by the
Choctaws Oktak Falaiah (Ok-tark, (Prairie), Far-lai-ah
{Long.) ) There they laid the foundations for the establish
ment of a school, which was afterwards named Emmaus, and
was near the line between Mississippi and Alabama. At Ok
tak Falaiah they made the acquaintance of Henry Nail, an
aged white man, who had been adopted by the Choctaws by
his marriage, many years before, to a Choctaw woman. He
told Mr. Kingsbury and Jewell that he had twelve children
living and one dead. He was a chief among the Choctaws for
many years, and is the progenitor of the Nail family among
the Choctaws. But I will speak of him again more definitely.
Thence the two missionaries, in company with Joel Nail, a
-son of Henry Nail, who lived near his father with a wife and
several small children, went to Okla Hunnali pro. Ok-lah
(people) Hun-nar-lih, (Six). While en route, they unexpect
edly came upon a large company of Choctaws assembled for
.a ball play. As soon as they ascertained that one of the
white men was "Na-sho-ba-An-o-wa, (Nar-sho-bah, (Wolf),
Arn-o-wah (Walking) (a name given to Mr. Kingsbury by
the Choctaws, though one foot was badly deformed by the
cut of a scythe when a boy) of whom they had heard, they
postponed their ball play, and both chiefs and warriors
gathered at once around him, and urgently solicited him to
give them "a talk" about schools. He willingly complied,
-while they listened with the deepest interest and in profound
silence to his propositions, and manifested unassumed joy at
the prospect of a school. Mr. Kingsbury then bade them a
friendly adieu, and the three continued their journey thence
to Okla Hunnali, which comprised six clans, and contained
2164 inhabitants.

Aboha Kullo Humma, (pro. Ar-bo-hah') (House; Kullo

150 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ^

(strong) Humma (red) or,. in our phraseology — (Strong- red
house — but in the Choctaw, Red Fort) was the chief of Okla
Hunnali. The clans of the Choctaws .were all perpetuated
in the female line. When a man married, he was adopted
into the family of his wife, and her brothers had more au
thority over her children than her husband; therefore, when
a lover wished to marry a girl, he consulted her uncles, and
if they consent to the marriage, the .father and mother ap
proved. Those of the same clan were never allowred to inter-
marrv. A Choctaw regarded marrying a girl of his own clan
with the same horror as the white man did to marry his own
sister; and equally so did the Choctaw girl.

Aboha Kullo Humma was hig-hly elated at the proposition
of Mr. Kingsbuiw to establish a school among his clans, or peo
ple; and earnestly importuned Mr. Kingsbury to establish two-
inhis district; ajid such were his pleadings that Mr. Kingsbury
finally agreed to write a letter to the; Prudential Committee,
to solicit more teachers, and Aboha Kullo Humma also wrote
a letter, and sent it with Mr. Kingsbury's, a true copy of
which I here insert:

Six TOWNS, Choctaw Nation, October 18th, 1822/
BROTHERS:

"The first law I have made is, that when my warriors
go over the line among the white people, and buy whiskey,
and bring it into the Nation to buy up the blankets, and
guns, and horses of the Red people, and get them drunk;
the whiskey is to be destroyed. The whiskey drinking is
wholly stopped among my warriors. The Choctaw women
sometimes killed their infants, when they did not want to
provide for them. I have made a law to have them pun
ished, that no more children be killed." ^

This law had actually been passed and was then in full
force, as had been exemplified in the case of a woman who
had been tried and convicted for killing her infant, a short
time prior to Mr. Kingsbury's visit to Okla Hunnali. She
was tied to a tree and whipped by the officers of justice until
she fainted; and not only the woman was whipped, but her
husband also received the same punishment for not restrain
ing his wife in the destruction of the child. But thus con
tinues Aboha Kullo Humma.

"The Choctaws formerly stole hog's and cattle, and kill
ed and ate them. I have organized a company of faithful
warriors to take every man w^ho steals, and tie him to a tree,
and give him thirty-nine lashes.".

^ This law of punishing theft by whipping has never been
repealed; but has been amended to this extent, and so stands.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 151

to-day — being* fifty lashes on the bare back for the first theft;
a hundred for the second, and death by the rifle for the third.

"The Choctaws have, sometimes, run off with each oth
er's wives. We have now made a law, that those who do so,
shall be whipped thirty-nine lashes; and if a woman runs
away from her husband with another man, she is also to be
whipped in the same manner. The number of men, women,
and children in the Six Towns, is 2164. I want the good
white people to send men and women to get up a school in
my district; I want them to do it quick, for I am growing old
and want to see the good work before I die. We have al
ways been passed by. Other parts of the Nation have
schools; we have not; we have made the above laws because we
wish to follow the ways of the white people. We hope they
will assist us in getting our children educated. This is the
first time I write a letter. Last fall the first time we make
lawsi} I say no more. I have told my wants: I hope you
will not forget me." "ABOHA KULLO HUMMA."

It is a truth, though unknown to thousands, yet contra
dicted by thousands who do know it that, from an unwilling
ness to admit anything which the truth of a desire in the
Indians to become a civilized and Christian people, Aboha
Kullo Humma's letter expressed the true sentiments of
every tribe of North American Indians, to whom the mis
sionaries have gone, from the days of the missionary Elliot
down the flight of years to the present. Instead of the bread
of eternal life for which they so earnestly pleaded, except the
few crumbs the devoted and self-sacrificing missionaries
gave them, we have given them leaden bullets; while the
iron wheel of our merciless venality rolled over them, ancl
still rolls on like a juggernaut crushing them by turns, some
quickly, and some later on, to us it mattered not, so in the
end all were crushed, and we go in to take their long coveted
land; though they fled hither and thither, and plead for mercy,
yet the appeal was vain, for the blind fury of our avarice
(deaf as the adder) still thunders on only to stop, it seems,
when the last of the Red Race shall be numbered with the
past and our cup of iniquity be full, that the God of justice
may write against us — Tekel, that our ship of State may also
go down in the vorte caused by the sinking of theirs.

From 1822, to the time they were dispossessed of every
foot of their^ ancient domains, and driven away to a then
wilderness, the schools increased in numbers, and the ordi
nances of religion were augmented, and a deeper interest
manifested every where over their country — never witnessed
before; as they, previous to that time, had had intercourse
with the debased of the White Race, by whom they had been

152 HISTORY OF THE^ INDIANS.

taught in the school of vice, and nothing- but vice: therefore
the North American Indians have been accused, from first
to last, of having- no conception of an over-ruling providence
— the Creator of all things, and an effort has been made to
sustain the charge in that they believed in the supernatural
power of their rain-makers, their fair-weather-makers, and
the incantations of their doctors. But the charge is utterly
false. 'Tis true, they relied on their rain-makers, fair-
weather-makers and the conjuring of their doctors, through
the belief that, by prayer and supplication, those person
ages had been endowed with supernatural powers by the
Great Spirit, (their God and ours), in whom all Indians be
lieved, and with greater veneration than the whites, and I de
fy successful contradiction. They sought the aid of the
rainmakers, doctors, &c, just as we do the prayers of our
preahers in behalf of our sick, and for our rain, etc. Now,
whatmore did or do the Red Race than the White? Noth
ing. Yet the Indians must be called infidels; though there
are today, and always have been, ten thousand white ifidels
to one Indian, and always will be. The Indians have also
been called savage, and are still so called, because he suf
fered himself to be tortured with fear and anxiety in the
belief of the existence of witches and ghosts, and that many
were slain because they were believed to deal in witchcraft.
But say you, "Remember Illichih!" I do; but also point you
back to Cotton Mather. The slayers of poor Illichih knew noth
ing of the injunctions of the Bible, and were called savages;
but Cotton Mather was an expounder of the Bible, and his
adherents the professed believers of its teachings, but he
and they are called Christians. Now judge ye, (if ye can do
so impartially) if "savage" is recorded in heaven against the
slayers of Illichih, is "Christian" also recorded there against
the slayers of those charged with witchcraft in Massachu
setts? Is it just that the North American Indians alone
must still be held up to view by the stigmatizing name Sav
age, though years ago, they freed themselves, as a people, of
all such nonsense; while thousands of the White Race among
the civilized nations, our own included, are to-day the slaves
of that most foolish of all foolish superstitions, yet demand
to be called civilized and a'Christian people?

Mayhew, the second mission established among the
Choctaws, as before stated, was located on the eastern bor
der of a magnificent prairie that stretched away to the west
and south in billowy undulations presenting a scene of
fascinating loveliness unsurpassed, when arrayed in its
dress of summer's green, dotted with innumerable flowers
of various colors; and the country in all directions for

^J HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 153

miles away, was rich in all the boundless extravagance of
picturesque beauty, where Nature's most fascinating" feat
ures everywhere presented themselves carelessly disposed
in wild munificence, unimproved, and indeed unimprovable
by the hand of art. Truly the lovely situation of that mis
sion is still fresh in memory, though more than a half cen
tury has passed away; and to-day, as of that long ago, the
eye of memory sees the far extending prairie on the south
and west, and the boundless forests on the north and east,
with their hills and vales of romantic loveliness, and creeks
and rivulets combining to give a moral interest to the pleas
ure derived from the contemplation of Nature in her bright
est, happiest and most varied aspect. Ah! the imagination
^could but fold its pinions, and stand in wondering admira
tion amid the sublime solitudes of the grand forests of that
day, while hill and dale seemed as entrancing to the eye with
their beautifully draped garments of green as the weird
music of the winds amid their branches was to the ears of
fairies played on mystic Memnon's harp tuned to audible
minstrelsy under the glancing rays of the morning and even
ing sun.

Their horses, cattle and hogs, which they possessed in
•great numbers, were fed alone from Nature's ample store
house filled at all times with the richest varieties of proven
der-grass, cane, acorns and nuts; while game of many vari
eties roamed over their forests undisturbed only as necessity
demanded their destruction. Birds of many kinds, and of
various plumage, added their enchantment to the scene.

The missionaries found the Cherokees, Choctaws and
Chickasaws in their native state — that of mortality unadorned;
yet struggling into the dawn of civilization as those who had
heard afar the roar of the world's civilization and roved im
patiently to the shore; and they soon learned that even the
despised, defamed and down-trodden Indian rejected not
God's law — improvement; nor was wanting in ability, while
their sentiments found .an expositor, and every feeling and
oracle in his untutored breast. Therefore, they sought to
make them religious through their best feelings rather than
their worst; through their gratitude and affections, rather
than their fears and calculations of risk and future punish
ment; and they found by giving them the least advantage of
instruction they glided into refinement; and also found that
there was that sentiment in the Indian that gives delicacy to
thought, and tact to manner; for they listened and caught
knowledge in the natural way of beneficence and power of
God; of the mystic and spiritual history of man; and philan
thropic missionaries were charmed by their attention. How

154 HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. •>

true that, in the nature of man — the humblest to the hardest
—there is something- that lives in all of the beautiful or the
fortunate which hope or desire have appropriated, even in the
vanities of a childish dream! At the time of the advent of the
missionaries, the Cherokees, occupied the now State of Ten
nessee," the Chickasaws the north part of the now State of
Mississippi, and the Choctaws the south part including-
also the western part of the now State of Alabama and the
eastern part of the now State of Louisiana. Those early
missionaries (both men and women), who offered their lives
to the cause and thoug'ht no more of themselves, were of
strong- character, firm resolution and of fine tastes and
ideals;' and of those missionary women'it may be truthfully
added, 'the}T were intelligent and elegant as they were heroic;
and the lovers of missionary lore oft read with delight the
ideal romance of their lives.

They first studied and made themselves acquainted with
the various dialects of the Indians' complicated languages— -
difficult because of the combination of signs and wrords that
cannot be reduced to any known rule; they administered to-
the wants of the sick and dressed the wounded; they braved
sickness and death and p-reached the tiding-s of peace oil
earth and g-ood will to men; and to-day, thoug-h, long- since,.'
all have g-one to receive their reward — a blissful immortality
amid eternity's scenes — yet their names and deeds of right
eousness stand triumphant and revered, while over them and
those whom they -taught and led, the Choctaw, the Chicka-
saw, the Creek, the Cherokee, the Seminole — waves the
white banner whose only symbol is the Cross of the World's-
Redeemer.

But in their early labors of love among the above named
people what did those selfsacrificing men and women find?
They found the Indians confidence was easily gained, and as.
easily retained by just and humane treatment, they found
that he was not vicious nor bloodthirsty, an untamable
savage, as he was and ever has been so unjustly represented
to be; they found that, unlike his white defamer, he never
was profane. He took not in vain the name of his God, the
Great Spirit, nor the names of the subordinate deities, to
whom his religion taught him the supreme Great Spirit dele
gated supernatural powers among men. Whatever he loved,
he called it good; whatever he hated, he called it bad. Of
whiskey he said: uO-ka-ki-a-chuk-ma, Water" not good, that
was all.

They found the men to be, to a great extent, even as the
whites, good husbands, loving fathers, and the most faithful
of friends; the women, devoted wives, adoring mothers, and

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 155

equally true as friends, and both men and women, truthful
to the letter, all scorning1 a lie and a liar.

'They found among- all the men the attributes of the
heroes, in truth, honesty, fidelity and patriotism, unsur
passed in the annals of the human race, all sustained by in
controvertible testimony for two centuries past; yet, with
mair^ foibles common to the fallen race of man, but with few
of the prominent and debasing" vices of the White Pace.

They found them to be a race that defied the tortures of
an enemy to produce a groan, to shed a tear or manifest
.pain. Stake man or woman to the ground and burn them to
death by degrees, and they would expire without a moan
chanting his or her death-song defiantly to the last gasp. t '";
They found them, in the literal sense of the word, to b:e
communists. Whatever they had was cheerfully bestowed
to any needy of their tribe. "Will I let my brother suf
fer when I have plenty?" replied an Indian to a white man. who
advised economy by saving- his superfluous meat against the
scarcity of winter instead of dividing* it among1 his fellows.
His 'generosity and his hospitality were extended even to an
enemy — whose life was safe if he entered his cabin and par
took even a drink of water; for the Indian's laws of hospital
ity were inviolate. ' ',' '
The religion of Jesus Christ fell upon the ear of the Red
man as a bright and beautiful elucidation of his own vague
but often sublime conceptions, and, under the mild teaching's
of the devoted missionaries, he adapted himself to the spirit
of the age and accepted his ne\v surroundings because the
power which led him on to civilization was that of the Soldier
of the Cross instead of the sword.

The missionaries also found them with the knowledge of
good and evil; they too were embued with the eternal princi
ples of love and hate; feeling that they were by Nature in
tended to be free, yet feeling that they were slaves to circum
stances — alike with the human race— seeking the good yet
too oft finding the bad; but not being able to attribute both
the good and the evil to the same All-Wise Being, they im
agined that these gods were alike anxious to do them service
—the one to give them pain and sorrow, and the other pros
perity and pleasure; the one ever thwarting them in their
undertaking, the other encouraging and assisting them;
they, therefore, desired, and very naturally, too, to appease
the one and please the other, and this desire, as a natural
consequence, influenced them to the worship of both the god
of evil and the god of good; yet those holy men of God also
found, that the Indians' thoughts (the wild ivy of the human
mind) could be trained upward until they too were hung

156 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

around by the tenderest associations and the recollections of
all that is" sweet and solemn in man's nature, as it points up
wards to a blissful immortality in the skies; and that their
spirits and hopes at once began to mount up from earth in
ihe pathway thus indicated by the light of truth; to reach
the blissful home so timely suggested by those men and
women of God.

But, alas, for the Choctaws !

The white man soon disturbed the long and deep rest of
their happy lives, not for their moral and intellectual im
provement and advancement in Christian civilization, but
.alone for their banishment from their ancient domains of con
tentment and bliss to impoverishment and humiliation in a
•distant wilderness in the west, with the injunction "Root
pig or die," where there was actually nothing for which to
root.

There were many things which served to awaken in the
minds of the early missionaries to the present five civilized
tribes, when living in their ancient domains east of the Missis
sippi river, sad and melancholy reflections. They beheld all
around them indubitable evidence of the former existence of
a large population who lived long prior to the people among
whom they labored, and had in the years of the long ago per
formed their part upon the stage of life, and unremembered,
passed into the secret chambers of oblivion. They felt
that they walked over the graves of a long succession of gen
erations ages before mouldered into dust; the surrounding
forests were once animated by their labors, (as their rude
and mouldering fortifications testified), their huntings and
wars, their songs and their dances; but silence had drawn
its impentrable vail over their entire history; no lettered page,
no sculptured monument told who they were, whence they
came, or the period of their existence.

But how strange the scene presented to the Cherokees at
Brainard, to the Choctaws at Elliot, and the Qhickasaws at
Monroe, (the names given to the missionary stations, the first
established among the peculiar but appreciative people I) How
incomprehensible to them was the conduct of the pale faces
then and there. How different from all others they had ever
seen or heard, the white traders, whiskey peddlers, strag
glers and refugees from justice! In all their previous know
ledge of whose race, they had seen the same motto inscribed
upon all their flags— "Traffic and trade, War and strife;"
but now they came disrobed of every appearance1 of greedy
gain and all implements of war and strife, and teaching the
strange tidings of peace on earth and good will to man. Nor
were the missionaries scarcely less astonished to find the

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS 157

people who had been represented to them by the tongue of
calumny as a set of savages, to be quite the reverse — even a
remarkable people in many respects; first, for their native
moral principle, their innocence of all hypocrisy, lying- and
all forms of deceit, in all their social relations with each other;
secondly, for their virtue, their fair-mindedness,- their
great and abiding paternal and parental aff ectioii; thirdly,
their respect for the right of property and the sacredness of
human character from slander and vituperation.

This is not an over-drawn picture. Nowhere among
any people was property, life, and human character more
sacred, and hypocrisy and lying less known, than among the
ancient Choctaw and Chickasaw, Cherokee and Muskogee
people. I speak from personal knowledge. And the mis
sionaries found them, to their agreeable surprise, as little
meriting the title, savag'es, which ignorance, prejudice and
imbecile egotism had applied to them, as any race of unlet
tered people that were ever known to exist; and, in viewing"
them in the light of a true catholic spirit, saw much that was
touching and beautiful in their manners and customs. They
also found them to be a people with immovable faith in a
Supreme Being, and possessing a great reverence for powers
and abilities. superior to those of earth; though, to some ex
tent, materialistic in their conception, but totally ignorant of
the white man's ideas and views of Christ and the Father.
They regarded the Great Spirit as the source of general
good, and of whom they asked guidance in all undertakings,
and implored aid against their enemies, and to whose power
they ascribed favors and frowns, blessings, successes and
disappointments, joys and sorrows; and though their faith
may have seemed cold to us, and their ceremonies, frivolous,
ridiculous, and even blasphemous in our eyes; but in such
lightas they had truly walked, with ready and sincere acknowl
edgement of human dependence on super-human aid and
mercy. Can we say as much for ourselves? Do we walk
according to the light we have as truly and faithfully as the
unlettered Indians did?

But among the many things that are associated with the
North American Indians as topics of conversation and sub
jects of the printer's ink-more talked about and less under
stood-is the "Medicine Man." On Nov. 14, 1605, the -first
French settlement was made in America, on the north-east
coast of Nova Scotia, and they gave the name A'cadia to the
country; and on July 3, 1808, Samuel Champlain laid the
foundation of Quebec. The character "Medicine-Man" had
its origin, according to tradition, among those early French
colonists who corrupted the word "Meda" — a word in the

158 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

language of one of the Indian tribes of that day signifying
chief, into "Medicine-Man," and also called the religious
ceremonies of the Indian "making medicine," which was
afterwards called, as the result, "medicine," and which final
ly became in use among the Indians themselves, and has so
continued to the present day.

It was a religious ceremony for the propitiation of invisi
ble spirits and practised by all of the North American
Indians, with scarcely an exception. The ancient Choctaws
and Chickasaws had their Medicine Men, with many of whom
I was personally acquainted in the years of the long ago.

There were two kinds of Medicine (religious ceremon
ies) among the Choctaws and Chickasaws, the same as
among all other tribes of their race, the tribal medicine and
the individual, each peculiar to the individual tribe and in
dividual person of that tribe. What the different ingredients
were, which composed the tribal medicine, no one knew, or
ever tried to know, except he who secretly collected and
stored them away in the carefully dressed, highly orna
mented and sacred deer-skin sack; yet it was held as sacred
in the hearts of the entire tribe of all ages and sexes, as was
the ark of the convenant among the ancient Jews. And
equally so was that of the individual, whose ingredients were
known only to its maker and possessor. More than once did
my boyish curiosity induce me to ask a Choctaw warrior
what was in his medicine sack, but only to get the repulsive
reply: None of your business.

Indeed, the mission of the tribal medicine was to the In
dians the same, to all intents and purposes, as that of the sa
cred ark to the ancient Jews when borne through the wilder
ness in those days of their historical pilgrimage^ It was re
garded as the protector of the tribe, in fact, tfife visible em
bodiment of the promise of the good Great Spirit to provide
for the tribe all the necessaries of life, and protect them
from all enemies. So too was that of the individual medicine
which he had made fqr himself alone, and which was indeed
a part of his life, — his assurance in danger, his safety in bat
tle, and his success amid all the vicissitudes of his earthly
career. If the sacred and secret articles that composed the
contents of the tribal medicine bag, or those of the individual
medicine bag, should become known to others, than the one
who collected and placed them therein, the mystic bag at
once became powerless— even as Sampson, when shorn of
his hair by the treacherous hands of Delilah. And was it
captured in war or otherwise fell into the hands of an enemy
the greatest consternation fell upon the entire tribe, and su
per-human efforts were made to recover it. If they failed in

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 159

this, overtures soliciting- pearce, even to humiliation, were
made at once to the ememy.

But, if an individual was in any way deprived of his,
which he always kept 'about his person, he -made another.
The making of another may seem an easy matter to the un
informed. But not so. It entailed upon the maker a long
period of utter seclusion in the solitude and silence of the
forest far away from the abodes of man-kind, with long- con
tinued fasting, meditation and prayer, followed by long- pro
tracted labor in finding and securing the necessary articles,
such as earths *of different colors, the ashes of various
weeds, bones of certain birds and snakes, and various other
things which his fancy may suggest. These were placed
in a vessel of water prepared for the. purpose, and the vessel
is then placed upon a lire and the contents continually stirred
with a st^ck as it became more and more heated. During
this process he obtains a sign from some developed peculiarity
which he regards as infallible, and which enables him to in
terpret signs and omens, both of good and evil. A small
portion of the contents of the vessel was placed in his mystic
sack and accompanied him every where. In time of peace,
the tribal medicine was placed in the care of a chief noted
for his bravery, who carefully guarded it from all profana
tion; but in the time of war, the war-chief carried it in front
of his warrior as they marched upon the war-path. The
youthful warriors was always instructed in the art of mak
ing medicine by the aged men of the tribe, of which he made
good use antl never forgot.

The philosophy of the ancient Indian ever taught him
to concentrate his mind upon the spirit land; and that the
influences which surrounded him in Nature, above, beneath,
around, are sent direct by the spirits that dwell in an invisi
ble world above; that there are two kinds of spirits — the
crood and the bad, who are continually at war with each other
wer him, the good directing all things for his prosperity
and happiness, the bad directing all things agaiiist his pros
perity and happiness; that within himself he can do nothing,
as he is utterly helpless in the mighty contest that is waged
over him by theigood and bad spirits. Therefore, he exerts
his greatest energies of mind and body to the propitiation of
of the bad spirits rather than the good, since the former may
be induced to extend the sceptre of mercy to him, while the
latter will ever strive for his good, and his good alone.
Therefore, when he is fortunate he attributes it to some good
spirit; when unfortunate, to some bad spirit. So, when he
-said it is "good medicine," he meant that the good spirit had

160 HIST OR Y O F THE INDIANS.

the ascendency; and when he said it is "bad medicine" he-
meant that the bad spirit had the ascendency.

Therefore, all thing's in nature, as a natual consequence,,
indicated to him the presence of the spirits, both good and
bad, — as each made, known their immediate nearness
through both animate and inanimate nature. The sighing-
of the winds; the flight of the birds; the howl of the lone wolf;
the midnight hoot of the owl, and all other sounds heard
throughout his illimitable forests both by day and by nip-ht,
had to him most potent significations; and, by which, he so
governed all his actions, that he never went upon any enter
prise, before consulting the signs and omens; then acted in
conformity thereto. If the medicine is g'ood, he undertakes
his journey; if bad, he remains at home, and no argument
can induce him to change his opinion, which I learned from
personal experience.

The missionaries found the precepts of the Choctaw's
to be moral; and also that they respected old ag^e, and kept
fresh in memory the wise councils of theii; fathers, whose les
sons of wisdom the experience of the past, taught their
youthful minds to look upward, and whose teachings they
did not forget in their mature years.

Their tenderness to and watchful care of the aged and
infirm was truly remarkable; they looked upon home and
regarded their country as sacred institutions, and in the
defense of which they freely staked their lives; they also in
culcated a hig-h regard for parents, and were always cour
teous by instinct as well as by teaching; they held in high
veneration the names of the wise, the good, and the brave of
their ancestors, and from their sentiment toward the dead
grew sweet flowers in the heart. They believed that interity
alone was worthy of station, and that promotion should rest
on capacity and faithfulness; they also had swift and sure
methods of dealing with the incorrigible, official or private;
nor were they impatient of the slow processes 'of the years
but knew how to wait in faith and contentment; and if they
were not as progressive, as our opinion demands in its rush
for gain and pompous show, they had at least conquered the
secret oi National and individual steadfastness. To-day we
are a prodigal and wasteful people, the .Indians are frugal
and economical.

In 14 months after the location of the mission at Elliot
by the indefatigable perseverance of Mr. Kingsbury, a
sufficiency of houses were erected, a school was opened,
and that then young pioneer of the Cross proclaimed the
Gospel of the'Son of God, where it never before had been
proclaimed; and at the time the Chactaws were so cruelly

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 161

driven from their ancient domains to make room for our cruel
and unchristian venality called "Progress," the Ellliot and
May hew missions together with the eleven other established
in various parts of the Choctaw Nation, were in a flourishing
condition; and this earliest effort to evangelize this worthy
people, was highly encouraging from the readiness, yea,
absolute eagerness, on their part to receive instruction.
A considerable and suitable literature both educational and
religious was soon prepared; a school system was also founded
> through which many young Choctaws, both male and female,
received the elements of a good education. Many of the
useful arts of civilized life were introduced; and the mission
aries had gathered many Christian congregations of whom
not a few had received the good seed in an honest heart.
And of those noble, self-sacrificing missionaries, it may truly
be said, "Their works do follow them;" and to-day the names
Kinp"sburv, Byington, Williams, Cushman, Polly, Hotchkins,
Hawes, Bardwell and Smith, are still held in grateful re
membrance by the Choctaws, as the names of some "of those
who were their true, their noblest and best earthly friends,
to which the following will truthfully attest.

In his first annual report of the Elliot Mission, bearing
date October 28th, 1819, Mr. Kingsbury says: (I copy from
the original MS.) "The first tree was^ felled on the 13th of
August, 1818. Since we arrived, (himself and Mr. and Mrs.
Williams) we have been joined by the following persons;

Mr. Peter Kanaise, Mr. John Kanaise and wife, car
penter, Mr. Moses Jewell and wife, Mr. N.Jersey, Mr.
N. York, 'carpenter and millwright, Mr. A. V. Williams,
laborer, Mrs. Kingsbury, Miss Chase, Mr. Isaac Fisk,'
blacksmith, Mr. W. W. Pride, physician.

"All these came out to labor gratuitously for the benefit
of the Choctaws.

It would be trespassing unnecessarily on the time of
the secretary to detail the principal circumstances and diffi
culties which have attended the progress of our labors.
They have been similar to what must always attend sucji
enterprises in an uncivilized country far removed from those
places where the necessaries, comforts, and conveniences of
life can be obtained.

Since our arrival, we have been principally occupied in
erecting buildings. This devolved upon us much labor and
greatly retareted our other business, but by the blessing of a
kind Providence, we have been prospered in our work, much
beyond our expectations.

Within about fourteen months there have been erected at

162 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Elliott seven commodious cabins which are occupied as
dwelling- houses. /

A dining- room and kitchen contiguous, (54 x 20) with
hewed logs and a piazza on each side.

- A school house 36ft x 34 hewed logs; and finished on the
Lancastrian plan.

A millhouse 34 x 30ft, and also a lumberhouse and
granary, each 18 x 20ft.

A blacksmith shop, stable, and three outhouses, all of
which are nearly completed.

On the plantation between 30 and 40 acres haAre been
cleared and fenced; and between 20 and 30 acres have been
cultivated, which have produced a considerable quantity of
corn, potatoes, beans, peas, etc.

Besides the above, considerable time has been spent in
cutting- roads in different directions, and constructing several
small bridges, which were necessary for transporting- with a
wag-on.

The stock at present belonging- to the mission, consists
of 7 horses, 10 steers, 75 ccws, 75 calves and young cattle,
and about 30 swine. Of the above, 54 cows and calves, and
6 steers and young cattle have been presented by the Choc-
taws for the benefit of the school.

"There is no private property attached to the mission.
All is sacredly devoted to the various purposes of instructing-
the Choctaws. t

"Urged by the importunity of the natives, the school was
commenced under many disadvantages in April last, with
ten pupils. As accommodations and means of support have
increased the school has been enlarged, and there are fifty-
four students who attend regularly— males and females.
All these board in our family. They are of different ages—
from 6 to 20, and could not speak our language when they
came. More pupils'are expected to join the school shortly.
In addition to the common rudiments of education, the boys
are acquiring a practical knowledge of agriculture in its
various branches, and the girls, while out of school, are em
ployed under the direction of the female missionaries in\dif-
ferent departments of domestic labor. We have also a full-
blooded Choctaw lad learning- the blacksmith trade; and
another, now in school, wishes to engage in the same em
ployment, so soon as there is opportunity. All the children
are placed entirely under our control, and the most entire
satisfaction is expressed as to the manner they are treated.

"The school is taught on the Lancastrian plan, and the
progress of the children has exceeded our most sanguine ex
pectations. Thirty-one began the A. B. C's. Several of these

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 163

can now read the Testament, and others in easy reading- les
sons. Most of them have also made considerable prog-ress
in writing.

"There have been instances of lads 14 to 16 years old, en
tirely ignorant of our language, who have perfectly learned
the alphabet in three days, and on the fourth day could read
and pronounce the abs. We have never seen the same num
ber of children in any school, who appeared more promising-.
Since they commenced, their attention has been constant.
No one has left the school, or manifested a wish to leave it.

"Want of accommodations, but more particularly want of
funds, has obliged us to refuse many children who wish to
enter the school. If adequate means can be obtained, we
design to increase the number to 80 or 100. It is our inten
tion to embrace in their education, that practical industry,
and that literary, moral and religious instruction, which may
qualify them for useful members of society; and for the ex
ercise of those moral principles, and that genuine piety,
which form the basis of true happiness.

"The expenditures of the mission, including the outfit
and traveling expenses of the missionaries, and exclusive of
their services (which have all been gratuitous) have been more
than $9000: About $2000, of this has been on account of
buildings. It has been our constant endeavor to impress on
the people of this nation the advantages of instruction, and
the propriety of their contributing towards the education
of .their own children; and by commencing on a labored and
extensive scale for their improvement we have drawn forth a
spirit of liberality as unexpected as it is encouraging.

"At a council in August, which by invitation I attended,
the natives subscribed ninety-five cows and calves,' and more
than $1300 in cash kfor the, benefit of the school. At a lower
town district, in September, they unanimously voted to
appropriate $2,000 (their proportion of the money due from
the United States for the last purchase of land) to the sup
port of a school in that district. It has been proposed in this
district to make a similar appropriation for the benefit of
this school.

"These measures disclose the disposition of the Nation
and evince that under the influence and direction of
the Executive a fund might be established, which eventu
ally would be adequate to the instruction of the Nation,
We feel a confidence that in future treaties with the Nation,
this subject will, without any suggestion of ours, receive
that attention which its consideration demands."

"To bring this people," continues that true Christian,
"within the pale of civilization and Christianity is a great

164 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. s

work. The instruction of the rising- generation^ is unques
tionably the most direct way to advance. Nothing1 is now
wanting- to put the great mass of children in this Nation, in
a course of instruction but efficient means.

It may be puoper to observe that the Chickasaws are
anxious to have similar institutions in their Nation; and
two more are earnestly desired and much needed by the
Choctaws. For the support of one of them, two thousand
dollars for 17 years annually ($34,000) have already been ap
propriated by the Choctaws. It is the intention of the Amer
ican Board to commence one or more of the establishments as
soon as they can command the means. It is therefore desir
able that the one already commenced here should be comple
ted without delay and placed on a permanent foundation.

Before closing- this report, I beg" leave to remark on two
points relative to the improvement of the Choctaws.

First: We think the introduction of a few respectable
mechanics of good moral character, would be of great ad
vantage in civilizing and introducing industry among them.
We have a blacksmith of this description, who came out at
the expense of the American Board, and the profits of his-
work are devoted to the support of this establishment. Many
of the mechanics found in the Indian countries are of little
advantage in any respect; and the conduct of some is an out
rage on barbarism itself.

Second. — "Could the missionaries be relieved from the
labor of erecting the buildings, it would enable them much
sooner to direct their attention to the improvement of a
plantation and other necessary preparations for commencing
the school.

"With sentiments of sincere respect, I am, dear sir,,
your obedient and very humble servant,

CYRUS KINGSBURY.

From a letter (now before me) written to the then young
missionary, Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, bearing date, October,
2nd, 1819, I take the following extract: "In a situation like
yours, it must be an unspeakable comfort to know that you
have the prayers of God's people. Many are daily supplicat
ing the Throne of Grace for you, and the object in which you
are engaged; but I presume you can hardly realize the extent
of the interest which is awakened for our missions among
the Southern Indians. The eyes of all our churches are
turned toward them with the earnest expectation, which is
the offspring of faith and prayer. The Indian character in
the estimation of even those who have hitherto deemed
them too savage to be civilized; and those who acknowledged
the excellency of many of the native traits of their character,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 165

were faithless as to the practicability of making- them
good citizens, are now convinced by the experiments made at
Brainard, (among- the Cherokees) that the Indians can be
educated, become good citizens and devout Christians.
Another evidence that had the whites exercised the same
credulity in giving1 heed to the voice of truth that so long- and
loudly appealed to them in behalf of the Indian race, as they
were credulous to the voice of falsehood, the unfortunate
Indians would not have so suffered at the hands of ignorance.
But continues the writer:

"Truly, you have seen more to rejoice your heart than is
witnessed by one in ten of our New England ministers. You
have witnessed the Christian devotion of characters once de
graded. You have witnessed the wilderness and the solitary,
place, in one yeai'j became glad 'before you, and the desert
blossom as the rose. After such experience of the smiles of
lieaven do not faint or become discouraged. God's promises
are established in truth, and they are all yours. Blessed
promises! Thus far the Lord has favored you more than
any Indian missionary for sixty or seventy years past. The
public are waking- up with wonderful rapidity to the
wants of the Indians. You may be distressed and perplexed
for a season, but it will not last always. The Lord will come
and will not tarry."

But it does not fall within the present plan of this work
to enter fully into the history, in all its particulars, of those
worthy and interesting- missions of seventy years ago among
the Choctaws, to them the dawn of hope; the return of spring
after a long- and dreary winter, — but only to present certain
aspects and features of them, which shall exhibit the hand
of God as eng-ag-ed to renovate and bless a long- oppressed
Nation, and preparing- for it a gracious visitation. Shortly
after the necessary houses for dwellings, school and church
purposes, had been erected and all things had settled down
to systematic business, and the missionaries to give their
whole attention to their ministerial labors, there was a mov
ing of the Jong stagnant waters, — a presentment of coming:
chang-e; and soon a mental activity that presaged emancipa
tion of the Choctaws from the long-, dark night of spiritual
gloom that had brooded over their minds during ages un
known.

For the first few years the good and glorious work of
reform went on for the most part quietly though steadily.
Then there was manifested a greater spirit of inquiry, not
only about the truth as a matter of speculation, but after
salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. It was truly
affecting to see the deep and unaffected interest manifested

166 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

by those unlettered warriors, as they listened for the first
time to the wonderful story of the Cross — a theme to them
incomprehensible and almost beyond human belief. That a
friend might peradventure die for a friend was to them a
possible thing-; but for a father to give his only son to die for
the benefit of his enemies, and that son also be' willing to
accept the ordeal of dying the most excruciating death that
their mutual enemies might be benefitted thereby, seemed
too incredible for belief, and filled them with wondering as
tonishment. Yet hundreds of them yielded to the regener
ating influences and power of the Divine Spirit years before
they were driven from their ancient homes to seek others in
a distant wilderness that the progress of the white man in
his strife for gain might not be impeded by their presence,
and lived the exemplary lives of the true Christian, and
died the death of the righteous in bright hopes of a blissful
immortality.

The first conversion among* the full-blooded Choctaws
was that of an aged man, who lived near Col. David Folsom,
chief of the Ch'octaws, named Tun-a pin a-chuf-fa, (Our one
weaver) h'therto as ignorant of the principles of the religion
of Jesus Christ as it is possible to conceive. He manifested
an interest in the subject of religion about six months before
any other of his people in' the neighborhood, and soon began
to speak publicly in religious meetings, and gave evidence,
by his. daily walk and conversation, of a happy and glorious
change, to the astonishment of his people, who could not
comprehend the mystery. The old man, but now a new
one, lived the life of a true and devoted Christian the few
remaining years of, his life, and then died leaving bright
evidence of having died the death of the righteous. When
he was received into the church, he was baptised and given
the name of one of the missionaries, viz.: William Hooper,
by his own request, to whom Mr. Hooper had endeared himself
by many acts of kindess conferred upon the aged and appr£-
ciative Chocta\v.

Shortly after he professed religion, he dictated a letter
to Col. David Folsom, his nephew, which was written and
translated into English byMr. Loring Williams, of which the
following is a copy:

"AI-IK-HUM-A; Jan. 30, 1828," (A place of learning.)

"BROTHKK: — Long time had we been as people in a storm
which threatened destruction, until the missionaries came
to our land; but now we are permitted to hear the blessed
Gospel of truth. You, our brother and chief, found for us a
good and bright path, and we would follow you in it. You
are as our good father, and vour words are good. Your

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 167

messengers (the missionaries), that you sent to us, we hear.
When we' think of our old ways, we feel ashamed. This
blessed day I have given a true talk. The black and dirty
clothes I used to wear I have taken off and cast away. Clean
and good clothes, I now put on. My heart, I hope, had been
made new. My bad thoughts I throw away. The words of
the great Father above I am seeking to have in my mind.

The missionaries, in the Choctaw Nation, salute. The
missionaries, chiefs, and people, I salute. O my chief, I,
your uncle, salute you. I am your warrior. You must re
member me in your love. The letter which I send you, you
must read to your captains, leaders, and warriors. As I feel
today, I wish to have all my Choctaw brothers feel. I am
the first of the Choctavvs that talk the good talk. My chief,
as you go about among your people, you must tell them this,
the dark night to me has gone, and the morning has dawned
upon me. The missionaries at Mayhew, I salute you. Mr.
Kingsbury, when this letter you see, you will forward it to
Miko (chief )Folsom. TUNAPINACHUFFA.

Soon after the writing of this letter, Mr Williams visited
the venerable ex-chief and reil* cd warrior of the Choctaws.
As he drew near the humble log cabin of the aged Choctaw,
his attention was attracted by the voice of singing. He halt
ed a moment to listen. It was the aged Tunapinachuffa
singing a song of Zion ; and when Mr. Williams came
up he found him sitting at the opposite side of his little
cabin, resting his head on one hand and holding a catachism
in the other, holding holy and sweet communion with his
newly found Savior; and so absorbed was he in his medita
tions, that the presence of Mr. Williams was not known, un
til announced by the barking of the dogs; and yet, so deep
and pleasant was his reverie, that he remained seemingly
unconscious of everything around him until Mr> Williams
came to his side and spoke to him. He then looked up,
sprrng to his feet and greeted Mr. Williams with unfeigned
manifestations of the greatest joy; and, at once, inquired
after Mr. Kingsbury with expressions of the greatest affec
tion ; then requested Mr. Williams to tell Mr. Kingsbury,
that "he did love the Savior with all his heart and soul;" that
''he took^reat delight in the Sabbath, and loved to pray."
that, "to-day heaven is near; it is not for away — I know it is
near — I feel it." Mr. , Williams and the new born babe in
Christ, though feeble alone with the weight of nearly three
score years and ten — the Psalmist's allotted period of man's
earthly sojourn — joined in a song' together, in praise to Him
who has said: "Come unto me, ye that are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest; and then Tunapinachuffa offered up a

168 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

i

prayer to Him who is the Indian's God as well as the white
man's.

Mr. Williams stated, in speaking- of the interview with
the venerable Choctaw, that, he prayed with the deepest
sincerity for his family; then, that all his people "mig-ht be
united to Christ in peace and love as with an iron chain; and
that they mig-ht take hold of the Savior with their hands."
At morning1 and at nig-ht this redeemed Choctaw child of: God
called his household around the family altar, nor ever per
mitted business or company to interfere with those sacred
devotions.

But Tuna pin a chuffa was not an isolated case. Hun
dreds of similar cases could be mentioned among the young-,
as well as the aged, of those Choctaw converts under the
teachings of the missionaries when living in their ancient
possessions.

After the conversion of Tuna pin a chuffa, a great and
wonderful change for the better was soon seen in not only
Tuna pin a chuffa's district, but also in other districts —
both in outward appearance and moral condition. The men
soon began to acquire habits of industry, cultivating cotton
and enlarging their corn fields. Temperance rapidly
gained ground, all over the Nation; and in nearly every house
throughout the' country soon were found the cotton card,
the spinning wheel and the loom, with here and there black
smith and wood-shops.

Soon large quantities of various cotton cloths were made
by the Choctaw mothers and daughters; while the father and
son raised corn, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, and various
kinds of vegetables; and their willingness to work ran
parallel with their progress and advancement in Christian
knowledge. Nor was there any difficulty experienced by the
missionaries in hiring\Choctaws to work for them, both' men.
and women, and even boys and girls; many of the men with
their families, went to the adjoining States and picked cotton
for the white farmers, after they had gathered their own
crops. As cotton pickers, both in quantity and quality, day
by day, they had no superiors; therefore, the white farmers
paid them one dollar per hundred pounds, and also boarded
them; and a thousand have been known to leave their Nation
at one time to pick cotton in the States; and before they were
driven to the wild wilderness far away to the west by the
inexorable law of the whites, that "Might is Right," when
dealing with the North American Indian; fifty, yea a hun
dred and fifty, drunken white men could be found in the
coritigudus States, to where one Choctaw would be found in
the Nation most distant from the neighborhood of the white

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 169

settlements. Much has been said to 'prove the drunken
Indian, to be a friend incarnate; and though I have seen
drunken Indians, yet my experience has taught me that a
drunken white man is far worse than a drunken Indian, and
more to be feared ten to one, than the Indian.

AfterTunapinachuffa, followed the con version of Col. David
Folsom, and many other leading- men of the Nation, together •
with the common warriors and their wives; and to that extent
was the interest in the subject of religion manifested by all
that a special meeting was appointed in the woods by the
missionaries; and at which, Col. David Folsom and others,
together with the now zealous and good old Tunapinachuffa,
took an active part. Though there were few Choctaws
present, yet the Spirit of God was there; and one evening an
unusual solemnity seemed to pervade the entire little com
pany of worshippers, and so deeply felt by old Tunapina-
chuifa, that he was unable to longer restrain himself. He
arose and commenced an exhortation to his people present,
-and continued for thirty or more minutes in such sublime
Indian eloquence (Nature's gift untarnished by human art)
.such deep pathos", and such irresistible arguments, as are
seldom heard anywhere.

At the close of his inimitable and indescribable exhorta
tion, he, in a persuasive tone of voice, said: "All you who
desire and are willing to receive these Good Tidings from
above into your hearts and go with me to the good land
above, come and sit on this log." What a moment was that to
the noble-hearted and pious missionaries who were so for
tunate as to be present ! Who can justly describe it? Firs1^:
one, and then another and another, came forward and took
their seats on that forest log, until it was covered, thus mani
festing and openly avowing their determination to serve the
living God; and there and then twelve adults became living,
active witnesses for the cause of the world's Redeemer.
That little religious meeting, in the -deep solitudes of a Mis
sissippi forest, closed; but the tidings of its strange pro
ceedings and its more wonderful results spread far and
wide, and it became the subject of conversation and inquiry
for miles away; and soon was awakened such a feeling of
curiosity and desire to learn more of this, to them strange
and incomprehensible thing, that other meetings were ap
pointed, to which hundreds gathered, and the result was they
-were multiplied all over the land and scores flocked to and
around the standard of Christianity.

But this interest was confined for several months, al
most exclusively, to the northern part of the Nation contigu
ous to Mayhew, whence the missionaries went out among the

170 HISTORY OF THB INDIANS.

Choctaws and taught and preached to them. The converts,
were at first gathered into one church organization though
widely separated; hence their sacramental meetings, were
held in the woods under the wide extended branches of the
mighty forest oaks of that day — God's natural temples —
where many hundreds would congregate and spend several
days worshipping God; and a more humble and devout as
sembly, of worshippers of the living God (without an indif
ferent or idle spectator) was never anywhere beheld than
were those worshipping Choctaws. At "one of these forest
meetings, where the wind, (nature's harp) sighing amid the
thick and wide extended limbsfof the giant forest trees,, had
for ages untold received no response but that of the defiant
war-hoop, now was mingled the praise of human tongues in
anthems sweet with nature to nature's God; ninety Choc
taws both men and women, were enrolled in the army of the
Cross; and at another over a hundred,

Messrs. Williams, Smith, Howse and Bardwell, shortly
after the establishment of the May hew mission, took charge
of the one established in the southern part of the Nation
among a clan of Choctaws called Okla Hunnali, (people Six),
distant seventy or more miles from Mayhew, leaving Messrs.
Kingsbury, (to whom the Choctaws gave the name Na-sho-ba
No-wah (Walking Wolf), Byingtoii (whom they named La-
pish O-la-han-chih, Sounding Horn), Cushman and a few
others at Mayhew.

Soon after the close of the revival meetings in the north
ern part of the Nation, several new converts, in company
with Col. David Folsom and a few missionaries of the May-
hew mission, made a journey to the Okla Hunnali mission to
attend a religious meeting previously appointed. The Choc
taws of that district, expecting them, came in large numbers
from the surrounding villages to the appointed place to wel
come them, and manifested the greatest delight regarding it
as great favor conferred upon them by their friends who had
come so far to attend their meetings. They assembled
without ostentation, yet in all the paraphernailia of Choctaw
custom, presenting a novel appearance to the eye of the
novice. But the "tidings of great joy — peace on earth and
good will-to man" — to the red as well as the white, proclaimed
and urged upon them with such evidence of truth, sincerity
and deep feeling, was to them something new indeed, unseen
and unfelt before.

Calm reflection assumed (as at the meetings in the north
ern section of the Nation) the place of thoughtlessness and
indifference, (for an Indian can and does reflect as well as a
white man), and soon were seen on many a painted face

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 171

trickling" tears (though not given to .weeping1) forming little
channels througii the vermilion as they coursed their way
down. And this meeting" was also blessed with a gracious,
visitation of the Holy Spirit, and many precious souls
(though Choctaws) were gathered into the fold of the Great
Shepherd as had been done in the northern portion of their
country. At once a mighty change began all over their
Nation wherever the missionaries went, who truly might be
termed the Apostles of God to the Choctaws; and soon, one
by one their ancient customs and habits were forever laid
aside, culminating in a general change of things well adapt
ed to their then, it may be truthfully stated, progressive
condition. But among the most prominent features indicat
ing a speedy reformation at this time (1826), was the enact
ing of a law forever banishing that curse of all curses O-ka
Humma (Red Water) or properly OkaHo-mi (Strong Water)
which, like that of the Medes and Persians changeth not,
stands to-day unrepealed, and will so continue as long as
they are permitted to exist as a Nation.

Many of the ancient Choctaws were a depts in the art of
singing their native airs, of which they had many; but all
effort to induce one of them to sing alone one of his favorite
songs was fruitless. They invariably replied to the solicitation
in broken English, "Him no good." Then sing me a war-
song. "Him heap no good," with an ominous shake of the
head. Then sing me a hunting song. "No good; he no fit
for pale face. "Well, sing me a love song. "Wah"!(anancient.
exclamation of suprise — now obsolete) much love song, him
bad, fio good for pale face." Though this wras somewhat
tantalizing yet it had to be endured.

Like all their race, the Choctaws never forgot an act of
kindness be it ever so trivial; and many a white man overtaken
by misfortune when traveling over their country, and weak
beneath the remorseless grasp of hunger, has felt that the
truth of the eastern proverb has been brought home to him:
Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after
many days. More than once has it fallen to my lot to con
tribute to an Indian's immediate necessities, in days of their
individual want and weakness; and, in after days — the inci
dent by me long forgotten; they have returned the favor
thirty fold; and for many favors have I become indebted to
them, when I had nothing to return. Their great de-
licacv in conferring a favor was not the least admirable
part of their conduct, often they would leave a large wild
turkey upon the door-sill, or place a venison ham just within
it, and steal away without saying a word, as if they feared
you might suspect them of trying to buy your friendship,.

172 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

when not enabled to secure it alone by merit; or that, to
accept a present from a poor Indian might be humiliating to
the pride of the receiver a*nd they would spare him the mor
tification of returning* thanks . Never was a race of people
more sensitive of kindness, or more grateful for any little
act of benevolence exercised toward them, or practiced the
great Christian principle, Charity to a greater degree of
perfection, especially in regard to strangers, than did the
North American Indians. The missionaries everywhere
and among all tribes, met them with kindness and confidence,
and conducted themselves by the rules of strict integrity in
all their dealings with them; and no instance has been re
corded, where their confidence in the Indians was betrayed,
or their good opinion of them destroyed.

The Choctaws were great imitators, and possessed a
nice tact in adopting the manners of those with whom they
associated. An Indian, however, is Nature's gentleman —
never familiar, coarse or vulgar. If he takes a meal with you,
he quietly waits to see you make use of the unaccustomed
implements on the table, and the manner in which you eat,
he exactly imitates with a grave decorum and as much appar
ent ease, as if he had been accustomed to the same usages
from childhood. He never attempts to help himself or de
mand more food, but patiently waits until you perceive what
he requires. Thisvmnate politeness is natural to all Indians.
But the mixture of white blcod. while it may be said to add a
little to the physical beauty of the half — race, yet produces a
deplorable falling off from the original integrity of the Indian
character; which, however, may be attributed "wholly to the
well known fact, that the young half-breeds mingle with the
whites ninety per cent more than the full-bloods; and ever
retain that peculiar characteristic of the Indian i. e. confi
dence in all professions of friendship until proved false, then
never again to be trusted; thus are they easily made the
dupes of the whites, and are ignorantly, and therefore un
consciously, led step by step down to a level with their de
stroyers, and too late awake to the consciousness
that they are the victims. Thus is the professed grandeur
of our civilization portrayed to the full-blood Indian. No
wonder he wants none of it. If such is the result Of that
civilization we would have him adopt, no wonder he shrinks
from it as he would from a fearful contagion.

No Indian was ever so selfish as to smoke alone in the
presence of others. I have oft attended their social gather
ings where, seated on the ground in little groups forming
little circles, the personification of blissful contentment, I
invariably saw the pipe on its line of march, and so continued

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 173

until the talk was ended. If but two were seated together,
and .one lighted his pipe, he only drew a few whiffs and then
handed it to his companion, who also drew, a whiff or two
and returned it; and thus the symbol of peace, friendship
and good will passed back and forth until the social chat was
terminated!

The Choctaw women did not indulge in the use of tobacco
in any way whatever when living east of the Mississippi, ex
cept a few in advanced years; and it was regarded as great
a breach of female decorum for a Choctaw women to use the
weed, as it is with the white women of the present day to
chew or smoke; and even the men confined its use exclusively
to the pipe. But now they seem to have deviated to some
extent from that good custom; for in my travels over their
country during the last few years, I have frequently fallen in
company with Choctaws, and when offered a chew of tobacco
it was accepted by a few fullbloods, and chewed with as
much gusto as we rode along together, as I dared to assume
with all my long years of experience; and thus I 'ascertained
that those of the present dav do not confine the use of tobacco
exclusively to the pipe as did their fathers of the long ago,
proving the truthf ulness'of the adage, "Evil communications
corrupt good manners," and also good habits.

The innate politeness of the Indians, when in their
strength and independence east of the Mississippi River, was
truly remarkable. The early explorers were surprised at
the perfection of this characteristic in the Choctaw Indians,
and many expressed their admiration in their writings. If
a Choctaw of the long ago met a white man with whom he
was acquainted and on terms of social friendship, he took his
proffered hand, then with a gentle pressure and forward in
clination of the head, said, in a mild and sweet tone of voice:
"Chishno pisah yukpah siah it tikana su," I am glad to see
you my friend, and if he has nothing of importance to com
municate, or of anything to obtain information, he passed on
without further remarks; no better proof of good sense can
be manifested, and well worthy of imitation.

„ But one of the many noble traits among the Choctaws
was that of unfeigned hospitalit}^; and to that extent that it
became proverbial — deservingly so. When any one entered
their house or hunting camp, be he a friend, mere acquain
tance or entire stranger, they extended the hand of welcome
— and it was sincere, — and after exchanging a few .words of
greeting, the visitor was invited to take a seat; after which,
they observed the most profound silence, waiting for their
visitor to report his business. When he had done this, the
silent but attentive wife brought what food she might have

174 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

prepared, (they were seldom found without something on
hand), and her husband said to his g-uest: "Chishno upah"
"you eat." To exhibit a true knowledge of Choctaw
etiquette, it became your duty to partake a little of every
thing the hospitable wife had placed before you; otherwise
you would, though unwittingly, cause your host and hostess
to regard your neglect of duty as a plain demonstration of
contempt for their hospitality — purpose!}* intended and of
fered.

Whether the Choctaws assembled for social conversa
tion or debate in council, there never was but one who spoke
at a time, and under no circumstances was he interrupted.
This noble characteristic belongs to all the North American
Indians, as far as I have been able to ascertain. In the
public councils of the Choctaws, as well as in social gather
ings and religious meetings, the utmost decorum always
prevailed, and he who was talking in the social circle or ad
dressing the council or lecturing in the religious meeting,
always had as silent and attentive hearers as ever delighted
and blessed a speaker. A noble characteristic. And when
a question had been discussed, before putting it to a vote, a
few minutes were always given for silent meditation, during
which the most profound silence was observed; at the expira
tion of the allotted time, the vote of the assembly was taken ;
and which, I have been informed, is still kept up to this day.
For many years after they had arrived from their ancient
homes to the present place of abode, no candidate for an
office of any kind ever went around among the people solicit
ing votes; the candidates merely gave notice by public an
nouncement, and that was all ; and had a candidate asked a
man for his support, it would have been the death knell to
his election.

On the day of the election, the name of all the candidates
were written in regular order upon a long strip of paper,
with the office to which each aspired written opposite to his
name; and when the polls were opened, this paper, with the
names of the candidates and the offices to which each
aspired written upon it, was handed to the voter when he
presented himself at the polls to vote, who commenced at
the top of the list and called out the name of the candidate he
wished to support for the different offices; if the voter could
not read, then one of the officers in charge of the election,
who could read, took the paper and slowly read the names
and the office each aspirant desired; and the voter called out
the name of each candidate for whom he wished to vote as he
read; and no candidate ever manifested any hard feelings

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 175

-toward those who voted against him. Here was exhibited
true liberty and free suffrage.

De Soto found the southern Indians to be an agricultural
people, provident, patriotic, hospitable and generous, .three
hundred and fifty years ago; and when he tested their patri
otism at Momabinah, and Chickasahha he learned to his sat
isfaction that their heroic bravery in defense of their
country, their homes 'and heaven bequeathed right, was
unsurpassed in the history of the world.

The missionaries found them in 1815. an unlettered
people, yet far from meriting the title savage in the common
acceptation of the word. They found them to be a noble
hearted and interesting people free of a majority of the de
basing vices practiced by the whites, and acquainted with
many of the domestic and agricultural, and possessing many
utensils and implements belonging to each; on a small scale
'tis true, yet amply sufficient for their wants.

They recognized and acknowledged a Supreme Being,
—The Great Spirit, the creator and ruler of all things. This
Great Spirit was held in great reverence by all Indians.
Never did a North American Indian profane the name of his
Creator or deny his power.

The Choctaw warrior, as I knew him in his native Mis
sissippi forest, was as fine a specimen of manly perfection
as I have ever beheld. He seemed to be as perfect as
the human form could be. Tall, beautiful in symmetry of
form and face, graceful, active, straight, fleet, with lofty and
independent bearing, he seemed worthy in saying, as he of
Juan Fernandez fame: "I am monarch of all I survey." His
black, piercing eye seemed to penetrate and read the very
thoughts of the heart, while his firm step proclaimed a feel
ing-sense of his manly tndependence. Nor did their women
iall behind in all that pertains to female beauty. I have seen
among the Choctaws and Chickasaws, when living east of the
Mississippi, as beautiful young women as could be found
among any nation of people — civilized or uncivilized. Many
of them seemed, and truly were, nymphs of the woods.
They were of such unnatural beauty that they literally ap
peared to light up everything around them. Their shoul
ders were broad and square ' and their carriage true to
Nature which has never been excelled by the hand of art,
their long, black tresses hung in flowing waves, extending
nearly to the ground; but the beauty of the countenances of
many of those Choctaw and Chickasaw girls was so extra
ordinary that if such faces were seen to-day in one of the
parlors of the fashionable world, they would be considered
as a type of beauty hitherto unknown. It was the wild un-

1J76 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

trammeled beauty of the forest, at the same time melancholy
and splendid. The bashful calm in their large, magnificent
eyes, shaded by unusually long-, black eye-lashes, cannot be
described; nor Vet the glance, nor the splendid light of the
smile which at times lit up the countenance like a flash, ex
posing the leveliest white and even teeth. Vainly one was
tempted to believe a whole nocturnal world lay in those
eyes, the dark fringe of which cast a shadow upon the cheek;
while they seemed to glance downward into a depth, -dreamy,
calm and melancholy, without a tinge or shadow of gloom.
'Twas a beauty ind'eed upon which they who looked, long
gazed that they might call it up in after days, as some wild
melody that haunts them still, when far a ways, Then the
Choctaw's boast was — and justly too — "Chahtah siah !" and
with as much merited pride as he of old "Romanus sum."

But alas! what a change has seventy-five years wrought
upon this once free and happy people! How different the
present generation from that happy, independent spirit that
characterized their people when living in their ancient
domains now the State of Mississippi! That manly bearing
has given place to weakness and dejection; that eye, once so
bright, bold and piercing, is now faint and desponding. The
Choctaws once looked you straight in the eye with fearless
yet polite, manly independence; his descendants now scarcely
raise their heads to greet you. They seem no longer to view
life through the rainbow lenses of sanguine hope, but as those
in despair. Ah, the world may die, but there are some
sorrows immortal. / I have frequently met, here and there, a
few Choctaws in Texas bordering on Red River. They
seemed as strangers wandering . in a strange land among
whose people no voice of sympathy could be heard; no word of
commisseration to be found; no smile of encouragement to be
seen. With each different little band I tried to introduce a
conversation only to be disappointed; and though I addressed
them in their, own native language; I could only obtained a
reply in a few scarcely audible monosyllables. They remem
bered the past and were silent, yet how eloquent that
silence.

In 1832, at Hebron, the home of the missionary, Calvin
Cushman and his family, was the place appointed for the
assembling of all the Choctaws in that district prepartory to
their exodus from their ancient domaines to a place they
knew not wnere; but toward the setting sun as arbitrary
power had decreed. Sad and mounful indeed was their gath
ering together — helpless and hopeless under the hand of a
haman power that knew no justice or mercy.

I was an eye witness to that scene of desparing woe and

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 177

/

heard their sad refrain. I frequently visited their encamp
ment and strolled from one part of it to another;' while from
every part of their wide extended camp, as I walked, gazed
and wondered at the weird appearance of the scene, there
came, borne upon the morn and evening breeze from every
point of the vast encampment, faintly, yet distinctly, the
plaintive sounds of weeping — rising's/and falling in one
strangely sad and melancholy chorus, then dying away in a
last, long-drawn wail. It was the Availing of the Choctaw
women — even as that of Rachel for her children.

Around in different groups .they sat with their children
from whose quivering lips sobs and moans came in subdued
unison; now, in wild concert united, their cries quivered and
throbbed as they rose and fell on the night air, then dying
away in a pathetic wail proclaiming, in language not to be
misunderstood, the pressure of the ang'uish that was crush
ing their souls — hidden from human eyes and told only to
the night. Truly, their grief was so deep, so overpowering,
that even reason seemed to reel, blighted beneath its wither
ing touch, too great to admit the comfort of human sym
pathy.

The venerable old men, who long had retired from the
hardships and fatigues of war and the chase, expressed the
majesty of silent grief; yet there came now and them a sound
that here and there swelled from a feeble moan to a deep,
sustained groan — -'rising and falling till it died away just as
it began. True, a few encouraging smiles of hope, though
utterly void of sincerity, would not have been out of place,
but they were unlearned in such subtle arts; therefore, their
upturned faces mutely, but firmly -spoke the deep sorrow
that heaved vvithin, as they sat in little groups, their gray
heads uncovered in the spray of dancing sunshine which fell
through the branches of the trees from above, while pitiful
indeed was the feeble semblance of approval of the white
man's policy which they strove to keep in their care worn
countenances; while the heart-piercing cries of the women
and children, seated upon the ground with heads covered
with shawls and blankets and bodies swinging forward and
backward, set up day and night, sad tones of woe echoing
far back from the surrounding but otherwise silent forests,
presenting a scene baffling in description the power of all
human language; while the young and middle-aged warriors,
now subdued and standing around in silence profound, gazed
into space and upon the scattered clouds as they slowly
swept across the tender blue, lending wings to the imagina
tion which seemed momentary to still, with a sense of their
own eternal calm, the conflicting thoughts that then composed

178 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

the turbulent garison of their hearts. Inaudible, yet from
flashing- eyes and lips compressed that bespoke the emotions
that surged within, could be read, "Why longer seek for
hope amid the ashes of life"? While here and there was
heard an inarticulate moan seeking expression in some snatch
of song, which announced its leaving a broken heart.

But why dwell upon such bitter memories? My soul
finds no pleasure in them. Deep down to undiscovered
depths has my life among, and study of the North Ameri
can Indians during over three score and ten years, enabled me
to penetrate their human nature with all their endurances
and virtues. What the world ought to know, that I have
written; and especially for those who desire more light on
that unfortunate race of people, and feel an interest in truth,
justice, and what concerns humanity the world over. To
me was offered the mission, and I accepted it because my
conscience approved it as right; and I have thus far, exerted
every power to fulfill even to the letter and shall so continue
to the end; allowing each reader to freely think his or her
own thoughts.

Every missionary among the Choctaws, when he entered
the mission gave a pjedge that he would devote his or her
life to the service of God in the cause of civilizing and Chris-
tainizing the Choctaw people, with no remuneration what*
ever except that of food and clothing for himself and family.
This was supplied by the Board of Foreign Missions estab
lished at Boston, Mass., to which Board everything pertain
ing to the mission in the way of property belonged — the
missionaries owning nothing. This Board had spent a great
deal towards the missions, and, in the removal of the Choc-
taws west, was unable to build up new missions there of suf
ficient number to supply labor for all of ^e missionaries;
hence, all but three were absolved from their pledge, who
soon returned to their friends iu Massachusetts, while the
three — Messrs Kingsbury, Byington and Hotchkins, with
their families, followed the exiled Choctaws to their unknown
homes to be found in the wilderness of the west. Mr. Cal
vin Cushman was one of the two who remained in Mississip
pi, and died at his old Missionary Post, Hebron, a few years
after the banishment of his old and long tried friends the
Choctaws, for whose moral and intellectual benefit he had so
long and faithfully laborea; and the other was Mr. Elijah
Bardwell, who labored at Ok-la Huii-na-li sixty miles south
west of Hebron, but who, after the banishment of the Choc
taws, moved to a point a mile and a half east of the present town
of Starkville, Mississippi. He too, with all the rest of his co-
Ja.borers, has long since also gone to his reward in the blissfu

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. $ 179

A

Immortality; but whose names still live, in honored remem
brance in the hearts of a few aged Choctaws, who still sur
vive.

As an example of the faithfulness with which those
ancient missionaries adhered to every principle inculcated in
the religion they professed among and preached to the Choc-
taws of the long ago, I will here relate the following as
worthy of remembrance.

In the early days of the town of Starkville, Mississippi, a
blacksmith, (John McGaughey), established a shop in the
embryo city, and, in ponnection with his smithing, also
traded in horses, keeping a few on hand all the time. Mr.
Bardwell knowing this, and wishing to purchase a horse,
called at Mr. McGaughey 's shop one morning and asked him if
he had a horse for sale that would be suitable for a farm.
Mac. replying in the affirmative they went to the stable,
where Mr. Bardwell, after examining the animal, asked the
price. To this Mr. McGaughey replied: "Eighty-five
dollars." "I regard that as too high a price," said Mr.
Bardwell. Mr. McGaughey, well knowing the aged mission
ary and having unlimited confidence in his integity, asked
him what he believed the horse to be worth. To which Mr.
Bardwell replied: "Sixty-five dollars." "You can have him
at that price," responded Mr. McGaughey. Mr. Bardwell
paid the money and took the horse. The trade was made in
the spring of the year. Early in the following autumn, Mr.
Bardwell called at the shop and, after the usual salutation,
handed Mr. McGaughey twenty dollars, saying; "Here is
that money that I owe you." Mr. McGaughey, in much
astonishment, replied: ' "You are certainly mistaken. You
-do .not owe me a dollar, you have always paid me the cash
for all the work I have done for you in my shop." "True"!
said Mr. Bardwell. "But this is not for work done in the
shop, but is due you in a trade we made last spring." "What
trade"? asked Mr. McGaughey in unfeigned suprise. "Why!
in the purchase of a horse from you," replied Mr. Bardwell.
"But you paid me the sixty-five dollars cash, the price for
which I told you, you could have him." "True," replied Mr.
Bardwell, "But you judged the horse to be worth eighty-five
dollars, while I estimated his worth at only sixty-five; upon
trial I have found him to be well worth the eighty-five dollars,
the price you first asked for him. Here is your money."
"But, Mr. Bardwell, I cannot accept the money. It was a
fair trade." "Not so;" replied the aged missionary, "you were
right, Mr. McGaughey in your judgment as to the correct
value of the horse, and I was wrong. I insist upon your
accepting that which is your just due." Mr. McGaughey

180 ^HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

finally accepted the twenty dollars but only through his 'great-
respect for Mr. Bardwell, whose feelings he knew would be
wounded if he did not accept the proffe red-twenty dollars.

Mr. John McGaughey, many years afterwards, frequent
ly related this horse trade.

Seventy years ago, the Choctaw hunter generally hunted
alone and on foot; and when he killed his game, unless small,
he left it where it had fallen, and turning his footsteps home
ward, traveled in a straight line, here and there breaking a
twig leaving its top in the direction he had come, as a guide
to his wife whom he intended to send to bring it home. As
soon as he arrived, he informed he!" of his success and merely
pointed in the direction in which h«e the game lay. At once
she mounted a pony and started in the direction indicated ;
and guided by the broken twigs, she~soon arrived at the spot,
picked up and fastened the dead animal to the saddle, mounted
and soon was at home again; then soon dressed and prepared a
portion for her hunter lord's meal, while he vsat and smoked
his pipe in meditative silence. No animal adapted for food
was ever killed in wanton sport by any Indian hunter.

As a marksman the Choctaw could not be surpassed in
the use of the rifle. It mattered not whether his game was
standing or running; a bullet shot from his rifle, when directed
by his experienced eye, was a sure messenger of death. A
shotgun was regarded with great contempt, and never used.
The rifle, and the rifle alone, would he use. To surprise a
Choctaw warrior or hunter in the woods — see him before he
saw you — was a feat not easily accomplished ; in fact, impos
sible by an experienced white woodsman, and extremely
.difficult even by the most experienced. His watchful and
practiced eye was always on the alert, whether running,
walking, standing or sitting ; and his acute ear, attentive to
every passing sound, heard the most feeble noise, which, to
the white man's ear was utter silence.

Years ago I had a Choctaw (full-blood) friend as noble
and true as ever man possessed, and whom once to know
was to remember with an esteem approaching the deepest
affection; and of whom I was justly proud and in whoin I
took delight; and to-day, had I a hundred tongues, I could
not express my appreciation of that noble friend. He was
indeed a cordial to my heart — oft imparting to me an earnest
of happiness which I thought had fled. Oft in our frequent
hunts together, while silently gliding through the dense
forests ten or fifteen rods apart, he would attract my atten
tion by his well-known ha ha (give caution) in a low but dis
tinct tone of voice, and point to a certain part of the woods
where he had discovered an animal of some kind; and though

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 181'

0

I looked as closely as possible I could see nothing- whatever
that resembled a living- object of any kind. Being- at too
great aMistance to risk a sure shot, he would signal me to
remain quiet, as he endeavored to get closer. To me that
wras the most exciting and interesting part of the scene; for
then began those strategic movements in which the most
skillful white hunter that I have ever seen, was a mere bun
gler. With Deepest interest, not unmixed with excitement,!
closely watched his every movement as he slowly and stealth
ily advanced, writh eyes fixed upon his object; now crawling
noiselessly upon his hands and knees, then as motionless as
a stump; now stretched full length upon the ground, then
standing erect and motionless; then dropping suddenly to
the ground, and crawling off at an acute angle to the right
•or left to get behind a certain tree or log, here and there
stopping and slowly raising his head just enough to look
over the top of the grass; then again be hidden until he
reached the desired tree; with intense mingled curiosity and
excitement, when hidden from my view in the grass, did I
seek to follow him in his course with my eyes. Oft I wrould
see a little dark spot not larger than 1113' fist just above the
top of the grass, which slowly grew larger and larger until I
discovered it was his motionless head; and had I not known
he was there somewhere I wrould not have suspected it was
a human head or the head of anything else; and as I kept my
eyes upon it, I noticed it slowly getting smaller until it grad-
ually disappeared; and when he reached the tree, he then
observed the same caution slowly rising until he stood erect
and close to the body of the tree, then slowly and cautiously
peeping around it first on the right, then on the left; and
when, at this juncture, I have turned jpy eyes from him, but
momentarily- as I thought, to the point where I thought the
game must be, being also eager to satisfy m3r excited curi
osity as to the kind of animal he was endeavoring to shoot,
yet, when I looked to the spot where I had just seen him —
lo! he was not there; and while wondering to what point of
the compass he had so suddenly disappeared unobserved,
and vainly looking to find bis mysterious whereabouts, I
would be startled by the sharp crack of his rifle in a differ
ent direction from that in which I was looking for him, and
in turning my eye would see him slowl3T rising out of the
grass at a point a hundred yards distant from where I had
last seen him. "Well, old fellow," I then ejaculated to my
self, "I would not hunt for you in a wild forest for the purpose
of obtaining your scalp, knowing, at. the same time, that you
were somewhere about seeking also to secure mine; I would
just call to you to come and take it at once and save anxiety."

182 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Talk about a whi?e man out maneuvering- an Indian m a for
est, is an absurdity — veritable nonsense.

Frequently have I proposed to exchange guns^ with
George (that was his name — simply Georg-e and nothing-
else) my double barrel shot-gun for his rifle, but he invari
able refused; and when I 'asked for his objection to my gun,
he ever had but one and the same reply — "Him push." He
did not fancy the reaction or "kicking" so oft experienced in
shooting- the" shot-gun which George had, no doubt, once ex
perienced to his entire satisfaction. Generous and faithful
George! I wonder where you are to-day ? If on the face of
God's green earth, I am sure — humble though you may be-
there is one true heart above the sod that still beats in love
for me. \

. It was truly wonderful with what ease and certainty the
Choctaw hunter and warrior made his way through the dense
forests of his country to any point he wished to go, near or
distant. But give him the direction, was all he desired; with
an unerring certainty, though never having been in that part
of tire country before, he would go over hill and valley,
through thickets and canebrakes to the desired point, that
seemed incredible. I have known the little Choctaw boys, in
their juvenile excursions with their bows and arrows and
blow-guns to wander miles away from their homes, this way
and that through the woods, and return home at night, with
out a thought or fear of getting lost; nor did their parents
have any uneasiness in regard to their wanderings. It is a
universal characteristic of -the Indian, when traveling in aii,un-
known country, to let nothing pasxs unnoticed. His watch
ful eye marks every distinguishing feature of the surround
ings — a peculiarly leaning or fallen tree, stump or bush, rock
or hill, creek or branch, he will recognize years afterwards,
and use them as land marks, in going again through the
same country, Thus the Indian hunter was enabled to go
into a distant forest, where he never before had been, pitch
his camp, leave it and hunt all day — wandering this way and
that over hills and through jungles for miles away, and re
turn to his camp at the close of the day with that apparent
ease and unerring certainty, that baffled all the ingenuity of
the white man and appeared to him as bordering on the mir
aculous. Ask any Indian for directions to a place, near or
distant, and he merely points in the direction you should go,
regarding that as sufficient information for any one of com
mon sense.

In traveling through the Choctaw Nation in 1884, at one
time I desired to go to a point forty miles distant, to which
led a very dim path, at times scarcely deserving the name,,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 183

and upon making inquiry of different Choctaws whom I fre
quently met along1 my way, they only pointed in the direction
I must travel and passed on; and being ashamed to let it appear
that I did not have sense enough to goto the desired point after
being told the direction, I rode on without further inquiry,
and by taking the path, at every fork that seemed to lead the
nearest in the direction I had been told to travel, I, in good
time, reached my place of destination. So, after all, the
Choctaws told me all that was necessary in the matter.

The ancient Choctaw warrior and hunter ieft the do
mestic affairs of his humble home wholly to the management
of his wife and children. The hospitalities of his cabin,
however, were always open to friend or stranger, but
before whom he ever assumed a calm and respectful reserve,
though nothing escaped his notice. If questioned he would
readily enter into a conversation concerning his exploits as a
warrior an$ hunter, but was indifferent upon the touching
episodes of home, with its scenes of* domestic bliss or woe,
though their tendrils were as deeply and strangely inter
woven with the fibres of his heart as with those of any other
of The human race. The vicissitudes of life, its joys and
sorrows, its hopes and fears, were regarded as unworthy the
consideration of a warrior and hunter; but the dangers, the
fatigues and hardships of war and the chase as subjects only
worthy to be mentioned. Yet, with all this, in unfeigned
a ffection for his wife, children, kindred and friends; in deep
a nxiety for them in sickness and distress; in untiring efforts
to relieve their necessities and wants; in anxiety for their
sa fety in hours of danger; in fearless exposure of himself to
p rotect them from harm ; in his silent yet deep sorrow at
their death; in his unassumed joy in their happiness; in
the se^all Indians stand equal to any race of people that ever
liv ed. And when roaming with him years ago in the solitudes
of his native forests, and have looked upon him, whose nature
and peculiar habits have been declared by the world to have
no place with the rest of the human family, and then have
gone with him to his humble, but no less hospitable, forest
home, and there witnessed the same evidences of joy and
sorrow, of hope and fear, of pleasure and pain that are
every where peculiar to man's nature, I could but be more
firmly established in that which I long had known, that the
North American Indian, from first to last, had been wrong
fully and shamefully misrepresented, and though in him are
blended vindictive and revengeful passions, so much con
demned by the civilized world, yet I found these were equally
balanced by warm, generous, and noble feelings, as were
found in any class of the human race:

184' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

To the ancient Choctaw warrior and hunter, excitement
of some kind was indispehsible to relieve the tedium of the
nothing-to-do in which a great part of his life was spent.
Hence the intervals between war and hunting were filled up
by various amusements, ball plays, dances, foot and horse
races, trials of strength and activity in wrestling and jump
ing, all of which being regulated by rules and regulations of
a complicated etiquette.

But the Tolik (Ball play) was the ultimatum of all games
— uthe sine qua non" of all amusements to the Indians of the
south; and to which he atttached the greatest importance,
and in the engagement of which his delight reached its high
est perfection, and in the excelling of which his ambition fell
not below that of him who contested in the Olympic games of
ancient Greece.

A Choctaw Tolik seventy years ago, was indeed a game
that well might have astonished the Titan, and diverted
them, pro. tern, at least, from their own pastime. But
when I look back through the retrospective years of the long
past to that animating scene, and then read in recent yearjs
th£ different attempts made by many through the journals
of the day to describe a genuine ChoctawT Ball-play of those
years ago, it excites a smile and only intensifies the hold
memory retains of that indescribable game. No one, who
has not witnessed it, can form a* just idea of the scene from
any description given; for it baffles all the powers of lan
guage and must be seen to be in any way comprehended.
The base ball-play of the present day, so popular among the
whites, in point of .deep interest and wild excitement pro
duced in" the spectator, when compared to the Chashpo Tolik
(Ancient Ball-play) of 'the Choctaws east of the Mississippi
river, bears about the same relation that the light of the
crescent moon does to the mid-day light of the mighty orb o^
day in a cloudless sky. However", I will attempt a descrip
tion, though well aware that after all that can be said, the
reader will only be able to form a very imperfect idea of the
weird scene.

When the warriors of a village, wearied by the 'mono
tony of every day life, desired a change that was truly from
one extreme to that of another, they sent a challenge to those
of another village of their own tribe, and, not infrequently,
to those of a neighboring tribe, to engage in a grand ball-play.
If the challenge was accepted, and it was rarely ever declined
a suitable place was selected and prepared by the challengers,
and a day agreed upon. The Hetoka (ball ground) was
selected in some beautiful level plain easily found in their then
beautiful and romantic country. Upon the ground, from

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 185

three hundred to four hundred yards apart, two straight
pieces of timber were firmly planted close tog-ether in the
ground, each about fifteen feet in height, and from four to
six inches in width, presenting a front of a foot or more.
These were called Aiulbi. (Ball posts.) During the inter
vening time between the day of the challenge and thai of the
play, great preparations were made on both sides by those
who intended to engage therein. With much care and
unaffected solemnity they went through with their prepara
tory ceremonies

The night preceding the day of the play was spent in
painting, with the same care as when preparing for the war
path, dancing with frequent rubbing of both the upper and
lower limbs, and taking their "sacred medicine."

In the mean time, tidings of the approaching play spread
on wing's of the wind from village to villag'e and from neigh
borhood to neighborhood for miles away; and during the
first two or three days preceding the play, hundreds of In
dians — the old, the young, the gay, the grave of both sexes,
in immense concourse, were seen wending their way through
the vast forests from every point of the compass, toward the
ball-ground; with their ponies loaded wTith skins, furs,
trinkets, and every other imaginable thing that was part and
parcel of Indian wealth, to stake upon the result of one or the
other side.

On the morning of the appointed day, the players, from
seventy-five to a hundred 011 each side, strofig and athletic
men, straight as arrows and fleet as antelopes, entirely in a
nude state, excepting a broad piece of cloth around the hips,
were heard in the distance advancing toward the plain from
opposite sides, making the heretofore silent forests ring
with their exulting songs and defiant hump-he! (banter) as
intimations of the great f£ats of strength and endurance,
fleetness and activity they would display before 'the eyes of
their admiring friends. The curiosity, anxiety and excite
ment now manifested by the vast throng of assembled spec
tators were manifested on every countenance. Soon the
players were dimly seen in the distance through their majes
tic forests, flitting here and there as spectres among the
trees. Anon they are all in full view advancing from opposite
sides in a steady, uniform trot, and in perfect order, as if to
engage in deadly hand to hand conflict; now they meet and
intermingle in one confused and disorderly mass interchang
ing friendly salutations dancing and jumping in the wildest
manner, while intermingling with all an artillery of wild
Shakuplichihi that echoed far back from the solitudes of the
surrounding woods.

186 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Then came a sudden hush — a silence deep,' as if all
Nature had made a pause — the prophetic calm before the
bursting- storm. During- this brief interval, the betting- was
g-oing- on and the stakes being- put up; the articles bet were
all placed promiscuously in one place, often forming- a vast
conglomeration, of thing's too numerous to mention, and the
winning side took the pile.- This being-' completed, the play
ers took their places, each furnished with two kapucha (ball-
sticks), three feet long-, and made of tough hickory wood
thoroughly seasoned. At one end of each ka-puch-a a very
ing-enious device, in shape, and size, very similar to that of
the hand half closed, was constructed of sinews of wild
animals, in which they caug-ht and threw the ball. It was
truly 'astonishing- with what ease and certainty they would
catch the flying- ball in the cups of the sticks and the amaz
ing- distance and accuracy they would hurl it throug-h the
air. In taking- their places at the opening- of the play, ten or
twenty, according- to the number of players engaged, of each
side were stationed at each pole. To illustrate, I will say,
ten of the A. party and ten of the B party were placed at pole
C.; and ten of the B. party and ten of the A. party at pole D.
The ten of the B party who were stationed at the pole C.
were called Fa-lo-mo-li-chi (Throw-backs); and the ten of the
A. party also stationed at pole C. were called Hat-tak fa-bus-
sa (Pole men), and /the ten of the A. party stationed at the
pole D. were called Fala molichi, and the ten of the B. party
stationed at the pole D., Hattak fabussa. The business
of the Falamolichi at each pole was to prevent, if
possible, the ball thrown by the opposite party, from strik
ing- the pole C.; and throw it back towards the pole D. to
their own party; while that of the Hattak fabussa at pole C.
was to prevent this, catch the ball themselves, if possible,
and hurl it against the pole C., and the business of the Fala
molichi and Hattak fabussa at the pole D. was the same as
that at the pole C. In the centre, between the two poles,
were also stationed the same number of each party as were
stationed at the poles, called Middle Men, with whom was a
chief "Medicine man," whose business was to throw the ball
straight up into the air, as the signal for the 'play to com
mence. The remaining players were scattered promiscu
ously along the line between the poles and over different por
tions of the play-ground.

All things being ready, the ball suddenly shot up into
the air from the vigorous arm of the Medicine Man, and the
wash-o-ha (playing) began. The moment the ball was seen
in the air, the players of both sides, except the Falamolichi
and Hattak fabussa, who remained at their posts, rushed to

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 187

the spot, where the ball would likely fall, with a fearful shock.
Now began to be exhibited a scene of wild grandeur that
beggared all description. As there were no rules and regu
lations governing the manner of playing nor any act con
sidered unfair, each of course, acted under the impulse of
thfe moment regardless of consequences.

They threw down and ran over each other in the wild
excitement and reckless chase after the ball, stopping not
nor heeding the broken limbs and bruised heads or even
broken neck of a fallen player. Like a herd of stampeded
buffaloes upon the western plains, they ran against and over
each other, or any thing else, man or beast, that stood in
their way; and thus in wild confusion, and crazed excitement
they scrambled and tumbled, each player straining every
nerve and muscle to its utmost tension, to get the ball or
prevent his opponent, who held it firmly grasped between
the cups of his trusty kapucha, from making a successful
throw; while up and down the lines the shouts of the players
— "Falamochi! Falamochi!" (.Throw it back! Throw it
back) as others shouted Hokli! Hoklio! (Catch! Catch!) The
object of each party was to throw the ball against the two
upright pieces of timber that stood in the direction of the
village to which it belonged; and, as it came whizzing through
the air, with the velocity comparatively of a bullet shot from
a gun, a player running at an angle to intercept the flying
ball, and when near enough, would spring several feet into
the air and catch it in the hands of his sticks, but ere he
could throw it, though running at full speed, an opponent
would hurl him to the ground, with a force seemingly suffi
cient to break every bone in his body — and even to destroy
life, and as No. 2 would wrest the ball from the fallen No. 1
and throw it, ere it had flown fifty feet, No. 3 would catch it
with his unerring kapucha, and not seeing, perhaps an op
portunity of making an advantageous throw, would start off
with the speed of a deer, still holding the ball in the cups of
his kapucha — pursued by every player.

Again was presented to the spectators another of those
exciting scenes, that seldom fall to the lot of one short life
time to behold, which language fails to depict, or imagination
to conceive. He now runs off , perhaps, at an acute angle
with that of the line of the poles, with seemingly super-hu
man speed; now and then elevating above his head his ka
pucha in which safely rests the ball, and in defiant exultation,
shouts, "hump-he! hump-he!" (I dare you) which was ack
nowledged by his own party with a wild-response of approval,
but responded to by a bold cry of defiance from the opposite
side. Then again all is hushed and the breathless , silence is

188 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

only disturbed by thelieavy thud of their running-feet. For
a short time he continues his straight course, as if to test
the speed of his pursuing opponents; then begins to circle
toward his' pole. Instantly comprehending his object, his
running friends circle with him, with eyes fixed upon him,
to secure all advantages given to thein by any stragetic throw
he may make for them, wrhile his opponents are mingled
among them to defeat his object; again he runs in a straight
line; then dodges this way and that; suddenly he hears the
cry from some one of his party in the rear of the parallel
running throng, who sees an advantage to be gained if the
ball was thrown to him, "Falamolichi"! "Falamolichi"-] He
now turns and dashes back on the line and in response to the
continued cry — "Falamolichi"! heiiurls'the ball with all his
strength; with fearful velocity it flies through the air and
falls near the caller; and in the confusion made by the sud
denly turning throng, he picks it up at full speed with his
kapucha, and starts toward his pole. Then is heard the cry
of his hattak fabussa. and he hurls the ball toward them and,
as it falls, they and the throw-backs stationed at that pole,
rush to secure it; and then ag'ain, though on a smaller" scale,
a scene of wild confusion was seen — scuffling, pulling, push
ing, butting — unsurpassed in any game ever engaged in by
man. Perhaps, a throw-back secures the ball and starts
upon the wing, in the direction of his pole, meeting the ad
vancing throng, but with his own throw-backs and the pole-
men of his opponents at his heels; the latter to prevent him
from making a successful throw and the former to prevent
any interference, while the shouts of "Falamolichi!"" "Fala
molichi!" arose from his owrn men in the advancing runners.
Again the ball flies through the air, and is about to fall di
rectly among them, but ere it reaches thed ground many
spring into the air to catch it, but are tripped alid they fall
headlong to the earth. Then, as the ball reaches the ground
again is brought into full requisition the propensities of each
one to butt, pull, and push, though not a sound is heard, ex
cept the wild rattling of the kapucha, that reminded one of
the noise made by the collision of the horns of a drove of
stampeding Texas steers. Oft amid the plav women w^re
seen giving water" to the thirsty and offering words of encour
agement; while others, armed with long switches stood ready
to give their expressions of encouragement to the supposed
tardy, by a severe rap over the naked shoulders, as a gentle
reminder of their dereliction of duty; all of which was re
ceived in good faith, yet invariably elicited the response
— "Wah!" as an acknowldgement of the favor.

From ten to twenty was generally the game. Whenever

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 189

N

the ball was thrown against the 'upright fabussa (poles), it
counted one, and the successful thrower shouted; i'llli tok,"
(dead) meaning- one number less; oft accompaning the shout
by gobbing vociferously like, the wild turkey, which elicited a
shout of laughter from his party, and a yell of defiance from
the other. TJius the exciting-, and truly wild and romantic
scene was continued, with unbatecl efforts on the part of the
players 'until the game was won. But woe to the Inconsider
ate white man, whose thoughtless curiosity had led him too
far upon the hetoka. (ball ground) and at whose feet the ball
should chance to fall; if the path to that ball was not clear
of all obstructions, the 200 players, now approaching
writh the rush of a mighty whirlwind would soon make it so.
And right then and there, though it might be the first time in
life, he became a really active man, if the desire of immediate
safety could be any inducement, cheerfully inaugurating pro
ceedings by turning a few double somersets, regardless as
to the scientific manner he executed them, or the laugh of
ridicule that might be offered at' his expense; and if he
escaped only with a broken limb or two, and a first-class
scare, he might justly consider himself most fortunate. But
the Choctaws have long since lost that interest in the ball-
play that they formerly cherished in their old homes east of
the Mississippi River. 'Tis true, now and then, even at the
present day, they indulge in the time honored game, but the
game of the present day is a Lillipution — a veritable pygmy-
in comparison with the grand old game of three quarters of
a century ago; nor will it be many years ere it will be said of
the Choctaw tohli, as of ancient Troy — ''Ilium fuit."

To any one of the present day, an ancieW Choctaw ball-
play would be an exhibition* far more interesting, strange,
wild and romantic, in all i.ts features, than anything ever ex
hibited in a circus from first to last — excelling it in every
particular of daring feats and wild recklessness. In the
ancient ball-play, the activity, fleetness, strength and endur*
ance of the Mississippi Choctaw warrior and hunter, were
more fully exemplified than anywhere else; for there he
brought into the most severe action every power of soul and
body. In those ancient ball-plays, I have known villages tc
lose all their earthly possessions upon the jssue of a single
play. Yet, they bore their misfortune with becoming grace
,and philosophic indifference and appeared as gay and cheer
ful as if nothing oi importance had occurred. The educa
tion of the ancient Choctaw warrior and hunter consisted
mainly in the frequency of these muscular exercises whicl
enabled him to endure hunger, thirst and fatigue; henc(
they often indulged in protracted fastings, frequent foot

190 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

races, trials of bodily strength, introductions to the war
path, the chase and their favorite Tolih.

They also indulged in another game in which they took
great delight, called Ulth Chuppih, in which but two players
could engage at the same time; but upon the result of which,
.as in the Tolih, they frequently bet their little all. An alley,
with a hard smooth surface and about two hundred feet long,
was made upon the ground. The two players took a posi
tion at the upper end at which they were to commence tjae
game, each having in his hand a smooth, tapering pole eight
or ten feet long flattened at the ends. A smooth round stone
of several inches in circumference was then brought into
the arena; as soon as .both were ready, No. 1 took the stone
and rolled it with all his strength down the narrow inclined
plane of the smooth alley; and after which both instantly
staged wit^i their utmost speed. Soon No. 2, threw his pole
at the rolling stone; instantly No. 1, threw his at the flying
pole of rNo. 2, aiming to hit it, and, by so doing, change its
course from the rolling stone. If No. 2 hits the stone, he
counts one; but if No. 1 prevents it by hitting the pole of
No, 2, he then counts one; and he, who hits his object the
greater number of times in eleven rollings of the stone, was
the winner. It was a more difficult matter to hit either the
narrow edge of the rolling stone, or the flying pole, than
would be at first imagined. However, the ancient Chahtah
Ulte Chupih may come in at least as a worthy competitor with
the pale-face Teii-pin-alley, for the disputed right of being
the more dignified amusement.

Judge Julius Folsom of Atoka, Indian Territory, inform
ed me that a friend of his, -Isaac McClure, found an Ulth
Chuppih ball in a mound near Skullyville, Choctaw Nation,
Indian Territory, and not knowing what it was, brought it to
him for information. This proves that the Indians who
occupied' the territory prior to the Choctaws also indulged in
the game of Ulth Chuppih.

The following was furnished me by my learned friend
H. S. Halbert, of Mississippi, a genuine philanthropist and
true friend to, the North American Indian race:

'/The Great Ball Play and Fight on Noxubee" (a cor
ruption of the Choctaw word Nakshobih, a peculiarly. offen
sive odor), between the Creeks and Choctaws.

"In the fall of 1836, there died in the "southern part of
Noxubee county an aged Indian warrior named Stonie Hadjo.
This old ludian had resided in the county for years and' was
very popular with the pioneers, who regarded him as an up
right and truthful man. He was a Creek by birth, a Choc
taw by adoption. This old warrior would often tell of a

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 191

great ball play and fight which occurred between the Creeks
and Choctaws in Noxubee county. This event, from date
given by him, must have occurred about the year 1790.

"On Noxubee river there was anciently a large beaver
pond, about which the Creeks and Choctaws had a violent
dispute. The Creeks claimed it by priority of discovery,
while the Choctaws asserted their right to it because it lay
in their own territory. As the fur trade at Mobile and Pen-
sacola, (corruption of the Choctaw words puska okla, bread
people, then small places, but the main points of trade for
the southern Indians) was lucrative, each party was loath to
renounce the right to the beavers. The two Nations finally
agreed to settle the matter by a ball-play. A given number
of the best players were accordingly selected from each
Nation, who were to decide, by the result of the game, to
which Nation, the exclusive right to the beaver pond should
belong. Great preparations were made by each party for
this important event. They commenced preparing on the
new moon and it took them two whole inoons and until the
full of the third to complete preparations. Great quantities
-of provisions had to be procured, and the ball players had to
subject themselves meanwhile to the usual requirement of
practice, the athletic exercises customary on such occa
sions.

"Finally the day came, and Stonie Hadjo said that there
were ten thousand Indians, Creeks and Choctaws, camped
around the ball ground on Noxubee river. The Creek Chief
who held the highest command, after seemg his people
properly encamped left to pay a visit of ceremony to great
Chief of the Choctaws, who lived at some distantance. Stonie
Hadjo-give the names of those two chiefs, but these names
cannot now be recalled." (If I mistake/ not, the Choctaw
Chief was Himakubih, now to kill). "Every thing being now
ready the play commenced, and it was admitted on all sides
to have been the closest and most evenly matched game ever
witnessed by either nation. Fortune vascillated from Creek
to Choctaws and then from Choctaw to Creek. At last, it
was a tied game, both parties standing even. One more
game remained to be played which would decide the contest.
Then occurred a long and terrible struggle lasting for four
hours. Every Creek and every Choctaw strained himself to
his utmost bent. Finally after prodigious feats of strengh
and agility displayed on both sides, fortune at last declared in
favor of the Creeks. The victors immediately began to
.shout and sing! The. Choctaws were greatly humiliated.
At length a high spirited Choctaw player, unable longer to
• endure the exultant shouts of the victorious party, made an

192 HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.

nsulting remark to a Creek player. (Who, in retaliation,
Choctaws state, threw a petticoat on the Choctaw — the
the greatest insult that can be offered to an Indian). The
latter resente'd it, and the two instantly clutched each other
in deadly combat. The contag-ion spread, and a general fig-lit
with sticks, knives, guns, tomahawks and bows and arrows,
began among1 the ball players. Then warriors from each
tribe commenced joining in the fight until all were engaged
in bloody strife.

"The fight continued from an hour by the sun in the
evening- with but little intermission during the night, until
two hours by the sun the next morning. At this juncture
the. great chiefs of the Creeks and the Choctaws arrived upon
the ground and at on'ce put a stop to the combat, runners-
having been dispatched at the beginning of the fight to these
two leaders to inform them of the affair. The combatants
upon desisting from the fight, spent the remainder of the
day in taking care of the wounded; the women watching over
the dead, The next" day the dead were buried; their money,
silver ornaments, and dther articles of value being deposited
with them in their graves. The third day a council convened.
The Creek and the Choctaw chiefs made "talks" expressing
their regrets that their people should have given way to
such a wild storm of passion resulting in the death of so
many brave warriors. There was no war or cause for war
between the two Nations and they counciled that all forget
the unhappy strife, make peace and be friends as before..
This advice was heeded. The pipe of peace was smoked,
all shook hands and departed to their homes..

"Stonie Hadjo stated that five hundred warriors were
killed outright in this fight and that a great many of the
wounded afterward died. The Creeks and Choctaws had had
several wars with each other, had fought many bloody bat
tles, but that no battle was so disastrous as this fight at the
ball ground. For many long years the Creeks and Choc
taws looked back to this event with emotions of terror and
sorrow. For here, their picked men, their ball players,
, who were the flower of the two Nations, almost to a man
perished. Scarcely was there a Creek or Choctaw family,
but had to mourn the death of some kinsman slain. For
several years the Creeks made annual pilgrimages to this
ball ground to weep over the graves of their dead. The
Choctaws kept up thi* Indian custom much long-dr. Even
down to the time of their emigration in 1832 they had not
ceased to make similar lamentations.

"After the fight, by tacit consent, the beaver pond was.
left in the undisputed possession of the Choctaws; but it is-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 193

said that soon afterwards, the beaver entirely abandoned the
pond. According to Indian superstition, their departure
was supposed to have some connection with the unfortunate
fight.

"In 1832, a man named Charles Dobbs settled on this ball
and battle ground . Stonie Hadjo, who was then living- in
the vicinity ^pointed out to him many of the graves, where
in money and other valuables were buried. Dobbs dug-
down and recovered about five hundred dollars in silver, and
about two hundred and fifty dollars' worth of silver orna
ments.

"This ground is situated on the eastern banks of Noxu-
bee river, about five miles west of Cooksville and about two
hundred yards north of where Shuqualak(corruption of Shoh-
pakalih, Sparkling,) creek empties into Noxubee. The beaver
pond, now drained and in cultivation, is situated on the
western, bank of Noxubee, about half a mile north of the
ball-ground.

Frequently disputes between the ancient Choctaws and
Muscogees arose as a result of a ball-play, 'but which too
frequently terminated in a fearful fight, followed by a pro
tracted war. My friend, H. S. Halbert, informed me by
letter, of another', which was told to him by an aged Choctaw
who remained in Missisippi with others at the time of the
Choctaw exodus in 1832. Is is as follows:

"The war in 1800 between the Choctaws and Creeks had
its origin in a dispute about the territory between the Tom-
bigbee and Black Warrior rivers, which both Nations claim
ed. It was finally agreed to settle the matter by a ball-play.
The play occurred on the west bank of the Black Warrior, a
mile below Tuscaloosa. The Creek chief was named Tus-
keegee, the Choctaw, L/uee, (corruption of La wih, being
equal). Both parties claimed the victory. A violent dispute
arose which resulted in a call to arms followed by a furious
battle in which many were killed and wounded on both sides,
but the Choctaws were victorious. This occurred in the
spring. The Choctaws after the fight withdrew to their
homes. The Creeks, stung by defeat, invaded xthe Choctaw
Nation in the ensuing fall under Tuskeegee and fought the
second battle in the now Noxubee county, in which the
Creeks were victorious. Luee again commanded the Choc
taws." But the Choctaws being reinforced,- another battle
was soon after fought in which the Choctaws under Himar-
kubih, were victorious and drove the Creeks out of their
country. I have been told that previous to our civil war the
trees still showed signs of the ancient conflict.

The Choctaws, at the time of their earliest acquaintance

194 HISTORY OF. THE INDIANS.

with the European races, possessed,, in conjunction with all
their race of the North American Continent, a vague, but to
a great extent, correct knowledge of the Oka Falama, "The
returning- waters," as they termed it — The Flood/

The Rev. Cyrus Byington related a little incident, as one
out of many interesting- and pleasing- ones that frequently
occurred when traveling- throug-h their country from one
point to another in the discharge of his ministerial duties,
over seventy years ago. At one time he found night fast
approaching without any visible prospect of finding a place
of shelter for the night, safe from the denizens of the wilder
ness through which his devious^ path was leading him. Then
and there roads were unknown and paths alone led the trav
eler from place to place. Soon, however, he discovered an
humble cabin a few hundred yards distant, directly to which
the little path was leading him, and which he readily recog
nized as the home of a Choctaw hunter. Several little chil
dren were engaged in their juvenile sports near the house,
who, upon seeing the .white stranger approaching, made a
precipitate retreat into the house. The mother hastened to
the door to learn, the cause of the alarm — saw, gazed a
moment, and then as suddenly disappeared. As Mr. Bying-
ton rode up, he observed an Indian man sitting before the
door, whose appearance betokened his experience in the vi
cissitudes of life to have reached four score years or more,
who cheerfully extended the hospitality of his humble home
to the solitary and wayworn stranger.

But nothing strange in this, for who ever heard of an
American Indian refusing the hospitality of his cabin, how
ever so humble, to a passing stranger? Soon Mr. Byington
was also seated before the cabin door near the aged Choctaw,
and very naturally took a survey of the surroundings. It was
a cloudless eve in May, 1825. The calm beautiful day was
j,ust drawing to a close and the slanting sunbeam fell in a
dreamy sort of indolent beauty upon the delicate shrubbery
Beneath the majestic trees that towered above in stately
grandeur dangling with their branches in a careless radiance
and throwing upon them such gorgeous tints, as they alone
can bestow at the last moment of their departing glory. Far
away before the admiring gaze of the humble missionary,
stretched a gently undulating plain which seemed to extend
beyond the sunbeams into the gray twilight of the distant
east. Here and there dense masses of foliage on the north,
south and west, deepening and darkening into increasing
depths of shade, blended so imperceptibly with the out
stretching shadows which they cast, that it was difficult to
tell where the reality ceased and the shadow began. Various

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 1 95

kinds of birds were now flocking from the c>pen plain into
the recesses of the dark foliage of the surrounding trees,
and, with noisy twitterings seemed disputing for the occu
pancy of their favorite roosting .place upon some selected
twig; lovely flowers of variegated hue filled the air with
sweetest perfume, rendering it a luxury to breathe; while
here and there little groups of cattle and horses lazily crop
ped the new and tender grass or idly lay upon its soft caf-pet,
which now covered the ground with living green. The aged
warrior, true to his~nature, had sought his cabin door that,
undisturbed, he might look upon the scene that stretched in
a wild panorama of beauty before his appreciative and admir
ing gaze. Romantic and lovely indeed were all the surround
ings of that forest home, so truly characteristic of the Indian
in the selection of his abode. The old warrior and hunter,
ere his meditations were disturbed by the coming stranger,
was, no doubt, silently and attentively listening to the voice
of memory calling him from afar off, back to the sunny days
of early youth, while his ears caught other cadences that
whispered of man-hood's strength, when, untrammeled
by the weight of years, he roamed o'er his native land,
and, with eagle-eye and, nimble-foot, pursued his game,
or, with stealthy step, followed the war-path in its dubious
windings through the distant country of his foes. But to
the cultivated mind of the man of God, who now sat by his
side and also viewed the glories of the scene, how different
the emoti'ons awakened ! His thoughts arose from, Nature's
beauties to the sublimities and glories of Nature's God. For
it -was the place and hour to enter Nature's sacred temple
and there commune with her in her own mystic language;
to see the beautiful where others see it not; to hear anthems
that whisper to man of hope and joy' in the diapason of the
gentle zepyrs, making the appreciative heart thankful to be
alive; while pitying the dwellers in crowded cities who never
see or enjoy aught like this.

After an exchange of a few words, and the aged man
had learned who his guest was, for he had heard of the good
missionaries, mutual confidence was at once established be
tween the two; especially as the stranger was conversant, to
some extent, in his native Choctaw tongue. During the con
versation of the evening, the good missionary, true to his
trust, narrated to his aged host the story of the Cross, with
all its interesting bearings, and in conclusion set forth, with
much eloquence, the importance and necessity of his host's
immediate attention to the things that appertained to his in
terests beyond the sphere of time; to all of which the old
man listened in profound silence, and with the deepest inter-

196 ^ HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

est and attention; then rising- from his seat and taking- Mr,
By ing-ton by the hand and leading- him to the corner of the
little cabin where the setting- sun could be seen in full view,
he pointed to it and said: "Your talk is, no doubt, true and
good, but it is strange and dark to me. See yonder is the
sun.(5f my life; it but ling-ers upon the western sky. It is
now too late for me to follow your new and strang-e words.
Let me continue in the path I long- have walked, and in which,
my fathers before me trod; the Great Spirit tells me, it will,
lead me to the happy hunting- grounds of the Indian, and that
is sufficient for me." And who can say it was not? With
unshaken faith he believed the Great Spirit would take him
at the hour of death to the happy hunting- ground — the heav
en of the Indian, the only one of which he had ever heard.
Then pointing- to his children and grand-children, he contin
ued: "Tell your new talk to them and to my young- people.
They have time to consider it. If it is a better way to the
happy hunting- grounds than the Indian's, teach them to
walk In it, but persuade me not to now forsake my long-
known path, for one unknown and so strange to me." Mr.
Byington,' deeply interested in his ag-ed friend, related, in
connection with other Bible truths, the account of the flood.
Instantly the old veteran's countenance brig-htened up, and
with a smile of self-confidence said: "You no longer talk
mysteries. I know now of what you speak. Mv father told
me when a boy of the Oka Falama." Mr. Bying-ton then
asked him, if he knew how long since it occurred. The old
veteran, with an air of injured innocence, by the doubt ex
pressed in the question of his veracity for truth, stooping,
filled both hands with sand, then, with an expression of tri
umphal confidence, said: "As many seasons of snow ago,
as I hold grains of sand in my hand . "

During the fall of 1887, I was boarding at a Choctaw
friend's in the territory, a man of noble characteristics, and
one day related to him the above incident. I was struck with
his remark. As I closed, he said in a slow and mournful
tone of voice; "Ever thinking of the good of their people, —
the young and rising generations coming after them." I
asked a more explicit explanation. He replied; "The aged
men of my people always expressed more concern for the
welfare of the young than they did for themselves. That
old Choctaw, of whom you have just spoken, seemed to re
alize that it was too late for him to be benefitted by -the teach
ings of the good white man, but still was anxious for him to
do all the good he could for the young and rising generation of
his Nation. Why is the Indian so traduced by the white
man? Has my race no redeeming traits?" Shame for my

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 197

own race hushed me to silence, and -I made no reply, as he
arose and quietly left my room — and me to my unpleasant
reflections.

The Choctaw hunter was famous as a strategist when
hunting- alone in the woods; and was such an expert in the
art of exactly imitating- the cries of the various animals of
the forests, that he would deceive the ear of the most expe
rienced. They made a very ing-eniously constructed instru
ment for calling deer to them, in the use of which they were
very expert; and in connection with this, they used a decoy
made by cutting the skin clear round the neck, about ten
inches from the head of a slain buck having huge horns, and
then stuffing the skin in one entire section up to the head
and cutting off the neck where it joins the head. The skin,
thus made hollow from the head back, is kept in its natural
position by inserting upright sticks; the skin is then pulled
upwards from the nose to the horns and all the flesh and
brains removed; then the skin is repulled to its natural place
and laid away to dry. In a year it has become dry; hard and
inoffensive, and fit for use. All the upright sticks are then
taken out except the one next to the head, which is left as a
hand-hold. Thus the hunter, with his deer-caller and head
decoy, easily enticed his game within the range of his deadly
rifle; for, secreting himself in the woods, he commenced to
Imitate the bleating of a deer; if within hearing distance, one
soon responds; but, perhaps, catching the scent of the
hunter, stops and begins to look around. The hunter now
• inserts his arm into the cavity of the decoy and taking hold
of the upright stick within, easily held it up to view,- and at
tracted the attention of the doubting deer by rubbing it
against the bushes or a tree; seeing which, the then m
longer suspicious deer advanced, and only learned its mis
take by the sharp crack of the rifle and the deadly bullet.

The antlers of some of the bucks grew to a wonderful
size, which were shed off every February, or rather pushec
off by the forthcoming new horns, a singularly strangt
freak of nature, yet no less true. There was also a strangt
and ancient tradition among the Choctaw and Chickasav
hunters, before their exodus to their present place of abode
that, as soon the horns dropped off, the buck at once PAWED ;
hole in the ground with his feet (it being (always soft durim
the season of shedding, from the frequent rains) into whicl
he pushed the fallen horns and carefully covered them up
This may seem fabulous, yet there are good grounds upoi
which to establish, at leas"t a probability, if not its truth,
have heard of white hunters who had been attracted by th
appearance of something .being freshly covered up, with th

198 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

tracks of deer alone at and around the spot, and, upon dig
ging down, have found the horns of a deer. In many hunts
in the forest of Mississippi, during many years, where the
deer almost filled the woods, I have never seen a deer horn
except those attached to a skull — left in the woods by the
hunter, or those of a buck that had died a natural death.
The forests were burnt off the latter part of every March,
and thus the ground, was entirely naked and a deer's horn, if
above ground, could have been seen a hundred yards distant,,
but they were not seen. The fires of the forest were not hot
enough to burn them. Now what became of them if not
buried by the bucks, as hundreds were shed yearly?

The Choctaw warrior was equally as expert in deceiving
his enemy as he was in that of the wild denizens of his native
forests. When upon the war-path the Choctaws always
went in small bands, which was the universal custom of their
entire race, traveling one behind the other in a straight line;
and, if in the enemy's territory each one stepped exactly in
the tracks of the one. who walked before him, while the one
in the extreme rear defaced, as much as possible, their
tracks, that no evidence of their number, or whereabouts
might be made known to the enemy. In these war excur
sions, the most profound silence was observed; their com
munications being carried on by preconcerted and well un
derstood signs made by the hand or head; if necessary to
be audible, then by a low imitative cry of some particular
wild animal.

The dignity of chieftainship was bestowed upon him
who had proved himself worthy by his skill and daring deeds
in war; and to preserve the valiant character of their chief,
it was considered a disgrace for him to be surpassed in. dar
ing deeds by any of his warriors; at the same time, it was
also regarded as dishonorable for the warriors to be sur
passed by their chief. Tnus there were great motives for
both to perform desperate deeds of valor — which they did;
nor did they wait for opportunities for the display of hero
ism, but sought perils and toils by which they might distin
guish themselves. These war parties, gliding noiselessly
like Spectres through the dense forests, painted in the most
fantastic manner conceivable, presented a wild and fearful
appearance, more calculated to strike terror to the heart of
the beholder than admiration. Though they advanced in small
bodies and detached parties, yet in their retreats they scat
tered like frightened partridges, each for himself, but to
unite again at a pre-arranged place miles to the rear. No
gaudy display was ever made in their war excursions to
their enemy's country. They meant business, not display,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 199

depending* on the success of their expedition in their silent
and unexpected approach, patient watching-, and artful strata
gems. To fight a pitched battle in an open field giving the
enemy an equal chance, was to the Choctaws the best evi
dence of a want of military skill. But unlike most of their
race, they seldom invaded an enemy's territory from choice;
but woe to the enemy, who attributing- this to cowardice,
should have the presumption to invade their country; like
enraged bears robbed of their young-, they would find the
Choctaw warriors, to a man, ready to repel them with the most
desperate and fearless bravery ever exhibited by any race
of men. Yet, to them, no less than to the whites, strategy
was commendable, and to outwit an enemy and 'thus gain
an advantag-e over him, was evidence of great and praise*
worthy skill.

DUELS. — The duelist, according to the white man's code
of honor, was regarded by the Choctaws with utmost con*
tempt, the fool above all fools; and in this, manifesting much
better sense than the white man with all his boasted idea of
honor. That a man would stand up openly before his enemy
to be shot at with the opportunity of getting an open shot at
him, was a code of honor beyond their comprehension, a piece
of nonsense in the indulgence of which a Choctaw could not
be guilty.

I did once hear, however, of a young Choctaw warrior ac
cepting a chellenge from a white man in their nation east of
the Mississippi river. A white man, who had been living in
one of their, villages for several months, taking offense at
something a young warrior had done, and well-knowing the
repugnance with which the Choctaws regarded the white
man's code of honor, thought it a proper time to impress
them with the belief that he was very brave, since he had but
little to fear that he would be called upon to put it to the test;
therefore, gave him a verbal challenge, in the presence of
many other Choctaw warriors, to fight him a duel accord
ing to the white man's code; and to impress upon the
minds of the by-standers that where there was so much
bravery, there must be a proportional amount of honor, the
heroic challenger informed the young Choctaw that, as he
was the challenged party, the white man's code of honor
nobly awarded to him the choice of weapons, time and place.
To all of which the young Choctaw listened in meditative sil
ence. All eyes were turned upon him expecting a negative
reply; none moro so than the "brave" pale-face. At that mo
ment he sprang to his feet and with a nimble bound placed him
self directly before the face, and within a few feet of his chal
lenger, and, with his piercing eyes upon, said in broken

200 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

English, "You say, me hab choice of weapon, time, and place,
too?" "Yes," responded the now dubious white brave; then
looking around upon all with a determined eye, to the aston
ishment of all, the challenger by no means excepted, ex
claimed in a calm tone of voice: "Pale-face, me fight you to-
marler wid rifle." Then turning to one of the by-standers
he said: "You take him" (pointing to his challenger) "to-
marler, sun so high," (pointing to the east) one mile dis way,
put him behind tree, den you come back." Then turning to
another, continued: "You take me to-marler, sun same so
high" (again pointing to the east) "one mile dis udder way,
put me beh,ind tree, too, den you come back." Then turning
his penetrating black eyes fully upon the then astonished
"man of honor," and looking him straight in the eyes, said:
"Pale— face, you hunt me to-marler, and me hunt you to-mar
ler; you see me first, den youshootme first; me see you first,
den me shoot you first." The pale-face warrior, quickly con
cluding that prudence then and there was evidently the bet
ter part of valor, wisely declined the honor with all the
prospective pleasure of the morrow's hunt; to the great
amusement of the Choctaws, who by their continued tantiliz-
ing, soon drove the would-be duellist from their territory.

Upon this subject, I here quote the following from the
pen of Rev. Israel Folsom, a Choctaw, with whom I was per
sonally acquainted, east of the Mississippi river, and kindly
furnished me by his amiable daughter, Czarena, now Mrs.
Robb, a noble Christian lady living in Atoka I. T. (from Ai-
a-tuk-ko, a protection or shield.)

"They had duels too; but they were quite different from
any that has been practiced by anv of the Indians of the con
tinent or the whites; and which most commonly proved fatal
to both parties. When a quarrel or difficulty occurred be
tween two warriors, a challenge was sent by one to the other;
not to meet and take a pop at each other with pistols, as is
the case in civilized and refined Nations, but in reality, it was
a challenge for both to die. It was understood in no other
way; this was the mode of trying the man's bravery, for
they believe that a brave man, who possesses an honest and
sincere heart, would never be afraid to die: It was usual for
each one to select his own friend to dispatch him. If one
should back out from the challenge, they considered it as a
great mark of cowardice and dishonesty in him, and he would
be despised by his relations and friends, and by the whole
tribe. If a challenge was given and accepted, it* was certain
to end in the death of both parties; this mode of deciding
difficulties had a strong tendency to restrain men from
quarreling and fighting among themselves, for fear of being

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 201

challenged and consequenty compelled to die, or forever be
branded with dishonesty and cowardice, and afterwards live
a life of degradation and disgrace. Hence, it was a common
saying among them, that a man should never quarrel, unless
he was willing to be challenged and to die. On one occasion
a sister seeing her brother about to baclr out from a chal-
stepped forward and boldly offered herself to die in his
stead, but her offer was not accepted, and she was so morti
fied at her brother's want of courage that she burst into
tears."

Thus they fought the duel: When one Choctaw chal
lenged another the challenge was given verbally, face to face,
the time and place then and there designated. If accepted
(and it was almost certain to be) the two went to the place
each with his second. The two combatants then took their
places unarmed about twenty feet apart, each with a second
at his right side with a rifle in hand. At a given signal each
second shot the combatant standing before him. That
closed the scene. Each had proven himself a Tush-ka Siah;
(warrior I am) and that was satisfactory to all.

To have it said, "he died bravely," was the highest am-
"bition of the Choctaw warrior, and thus it is even to the
present day. He regards death as merely a transmigration
to the happy hunting-ground, to which many of his friends
had already gone. His rifle, so long his boon companion and
trusty friend, together with his tomahawk, knife and tobacco,
he only required to be deposited in the grave by his side as
all the requisites necessary for him, when he arrived at the
land of abundant game to resume the sports of the chase;
frequentlv a little corn and venison were also placed in the
grave, by the hand of maternal fore-sight and love, that her
warrior boy might not hunger during his long journey.

There was a peculiar custom among the ancient Choc-
taws, prior to 1818, which, according to tradition, was as
follows: For many years after the marriage of her daughter,
the mpther-in-law was forbidden to look upon her son-in-law.
Though they might converse together, they must be hidden
the one from the other by some kind of a screen, and when
nothing else offered, by covering her eyes. Thus the mother-
in-law was put to infinite trouble and vexation least she
should make an infraction upon the strange custom; since,
when travelling or in camp often without tents, they were
necessarily afraid to raise their heads, or open their eyes
through fear of seeing the interdicted object.

Another peculiarity, which, howeyer. they possessed in
common with other tribes, was, the Choctaw wife never
called her husband by name. But addressed him as "my son

202 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

or daughter's father;" or more commonly using- the child's
name, when if Shah-bi-chih, (meaning-, to make empty, the
real name of a Choctaw whom I know) for instance, she
she calls' her husband "Shah-bi-chih 's father." Another
oddity in regard to names was, the ancient Choctaw warriors
seemed to have a strange aversion to telling their own names,-
and it was impossible to get it unless he had an acquaintance
present, whom he requested to tell it for him.

THE CHOCTAW YA-YAHS ; CRIES OVER THE DEAD. — Their
manifested sorrow and wailing over the graves of their dead
were affecting in the extreme — truly bordering on the sub
lime in their severe simplicity; and had the Indian character
istics been rightly understood, and the nature of their
lamentations justly comprehended by the whites, their an
cient "Yayahs" might well have been compared to the com
plaints of the mother of Euriauls, in the ^Enead: the same
passionate expressions of deep sorrow, and the same ex
travagance of grief, whose aif ecting tones sank deep into the
inexperienced heart. For twelve months, at various inter
vals, the women repaired to the grave of the last deceased
relative or friend there to weep and express their unassum-
ed, heart-felt griefs to the memory of the dead, loved in life
and lamented in death, thus manifesting the tender sensi
bility of the Indian female. And though those tender and
affecting exhibitions of affection may be regarded by the
arrogant whites as 'having their origin in ignorance, super
stition and error, yet how hard that heart must be that par
dons not the illusion that soothes the sufferings of a bereaved
soul. But that age in which superstition held her empire
undisputed in the Choctaw mind has long since past; and
that noble people, however seemingly low, or however op
posed in their progress by conflicting and opposing circum
stances, have years ago turned1 towards truth, and have long
•since attained that goal which reason has erecTed in their
breasts equaj to that of the White Race.

The deep and unaffected grief of a Choctaw mother at
the death of a daughter, and that also of a father at the loss
of an only son in whom rested his fondest hopes, words are
inadequate to describe. With tearless eyes and solemn
countenance the bereaved father strolled about his little
premises, seemingly unconscious of all the surroundings,
while the frequent outbursting of grief in the loud lamenta
tions of the mother was truly a Rachel weeping for her child
ren. There never lived a race of people more affectionate
one to another than the Choctaws inyiieir ancient homes.
They actually seemed as one great brotherhood— one loving>
trusting family; nor has there been any material change

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 203

from that day to this. 'Tis true, they were subject to like
passions with all imperfect humanity, and in momentary fits
of passion, excited by the white man's "Personal Liberty,"
one sometimes killed another; but as soon as his drunken fit
had worn off and momentary anger cooled, he manifested
the deepest sorrow for the unfortunate affair; nor did he
ever try to escape from the punishment attending- the crime
— never; but calmly offered himself as a voluntary sacrifice
to the offended law.

They held specified cries for the dead, which to us of the
present day would appear strange and even bordering- upon,
the romantic, yet could not be witnessed without emotions
of sadness. After the death and burial, the time was set by
the near relations of the deceased for the cry, and notice was
given to^ the neighboring* villages for their attendance, to
which all gave a ready response. When assembled, as many
as could conveniently, would kneel in a close circle around the
grave, both men and women; then drawing their blankets
over their heads would commence a wailing cry in different
tones of voice, which, though evident to a sensitive ear that
the rules of harmony had been greatly overlooked, produced
a solemnity of feeling that was indescribable, to which also
the surroundings but added to the novelty of the scene; for
here and there, in detached little groups, were seated upon
the ground many others, who in solemn demeanor chatted
in a low tone of voice and smoked the indispensible pipe;
while innumerable children of all ages and sexes, engaged in
their juvenile sports and in thoughtless glee mingled their
happy voices with the sad dirge of their seniors; which ad
ded to the barking of a hundred dogs intermingling with the
tinkling chimes of the little bells that were suspended upon
the necks of as many ponies, made a scene baffling all des
cription. At different intervals, one, sometimes three 'or
four together, would arise from the circle of mourners, qui
etly walk away and join some one of the many little groups
seated around, while the vacancy in the mourning circle was
im mediately filled by others, who promptly came forward,
knelt, drew their blankets over their heads, and took up the
mournful strain; and thus for several days and nights, the
wailing voices of the mourners, the gleeful shouts of thought
less yet innocent and happy childhood; the howling and
barking of innumerable dogs, and the tinkling of the pony-
bells of every tone imaginable, in all of which dissonance was
a prominent feature, was heard for miles away through the
surrounding forests, echoing a wild, discordant note, more
incomprehensible than the united voices of a thousand of the
different denizens of the wilderness, of wrhich no one, who

204 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

has not been an eye witness, can form even the most remote
conception. If alone in the silent gloom of the wilderness,
the boldest heart would quail, and the strongest nerve relax,
unless the course and meaning- were known and understood;
for he could but believe that all the lost spirits of the lower
world had left their dark and dismal abodes, ascended to
earth, and, in one mystic concert, brayed the fearful discord.
More than once have I witnessed the scene and heard the
Availing thereof. Oft, in the calm still hours of a starry night,
have I heard the dubious tones of a distant Choctaw Indian
cry, and as the disconnected sounds, borne upon the night
breeze, floated by in undulating tones, now plainly audible,
then dying away in the distance, I must confess there was a
strange sadness awakened in my breast, unfelt and unknown
before or since. It must be heard to be comprehended.
When the time for the cry had expired, the mourning was
exchanged for a previously prepared feast; after the enjoy
ments afforded in the participation of which, all joined in a
jolly dance; thus happily restoring the equilibrium so long
physically and mentally disturbed. Then each to his home
returned, while the name of the departed was recorded
among the archives of the past,— to be mentioned no more.

The relatives of the deceased, who lived at too great a
distance to conveniently to cry over the grave of the dead
set up a post a short distance from the house, around which
they gathered and cried • alternately during a period of
twelve months. Such were some of the ancient characteris
tics of this peculiar 'but interesting people of the long ago,
most of which, however, have long since been abandoned and
numbered with the things of yore.

The faces of the-Choctaw and Chickasaw men of sixty
years ago were as smooth as a woman's, in fact they had no
beard. Sometimes there might be seen a few tine hairs (if
hairs they might be called) here and there upon the face,
but they were few and far between, and extracted with a
pair of small tweezers whenever discovered. Oft have I seen
a Choctaw warrior standing before a mirror seek'ng with
untiring perseverance and unwearied eyes, as he turned his
face at different angles to the glass, if by chance a hair could
be found lurking there, which, if discovered, was instantly
removed as an unwelcome intruder. Even to-day, a full-
blood Choctaw or Chickasaw with a heavy beard is never
seen. I have seen a few, here and there, with a little patch
of beard upon their chins, but it was thin and short, and
with good reasons to suspect that white blood flowed in their
veins.

It is a truth but little known .among the whites, that the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 205

North American Indians of untarnished blood have no hair
upon any part of the^body except the head. My knowledge
of this peculiarity was confined,* however, to the Choctaws
and Chickasaws alone. But in conversation with an aged
Choctaw friend upon this subject, and inquiring" if this
peculiarity extended to all Indians, he replied; "To all, I
believe. I have been among- the Comanches, Kiowa's and
other western Indians, and have often seen them bathing,
men and women, promiscuously together, in the rivers of
their country, and found it was the same with them, their
heads alone were adorned with hair."

In conversation soon after with a Creek friend upon the
subject in regard to the full-blood Creeks, he said, "They have
no hair whatever upon the body, except that of the head, and
the same is the case with all full-bloods that I have seen of
other tribes." It is also the testimony^of all the early ex
plorers of this continent.

In their ancient councils and great national assemblies,
the Choctaws 'always observed the utmost order arid decorum,
which, however, is universally characteristic of the Indians
everywhere. In those grave and imposing deliberations of
years ag-o convened at night, all sat on the ground in a circle
around a blazing fire called "The Council Fire." The aged,
who from decrepitude had long retired from the scenes of
active life, the war-path and the chase, formed the inner
circle; the middle aged warriors, the next and the young
warriors, the outer circle. The women and children were
always excluded from all their national assemblies. The old
men, beginning with the oldest patriarch, would then in
regular succession state to the attentive audience all that had
been told them by their fathers, and what they themselves
had learned in the experience of an eventful' life — the past
history of their nation; their vicissitudes and changes; what
difficulties they had encountered, and how overcome; their
various successes in war and their defeats; the character and '
kind of enemies whom they had defeated and by whom they
had been defeated, the mighty deeds of their renowned
chiefs and famous warriors in days past, together with their
own achivements both in war and the chase; their nation's
days of prosperity and adversity; in short; all of their tradi
tions and legends handed down to them through :the suc
cessive generations of ages past; and when those old seers
and patriarchs, oracles of the past, had in their turn gone to
dwell with their fathers in the Spirit Land, and their voices
were no longer heard in wise counsel, the next oldest
occupied the chairs of state, and in turn rehearsed to their
young braves the traditions of the past, as related to them

206 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

by the former sages of their tribe, together with their own
knowledge; and thus were handed down through a long line
•of successive generations, and with much accuracy and
truth, the events of their past history; and when we consider
the extent to which all Indians cultivated that one faculty,
memory, their connections in the history of the past is not
so astonishing. I will here relate a little incident (frequently
published) in the life of the famous Indian chief, Red Jacket,
as an evidence of strength and correctness of the Indian's
memory. It is said of Red Jacket, that he never forgot any
thing he once learned. On a certain occasion, a dispute
arose in a council with his tribe and the whites, concerning
the stipulations made and agreed upon in a certain treaty.
"You have forgotten," said the agent, "we have it written on
paper." "The paper then tells a lie," replied Red Jacket.
"I have it. written down here," he added, placing his hand
with great dignity on his brow. "This is the book the Great
Spirit has given the Indian; it does not lie." A reference
was immediately made to the treaty in question, when, to the
astonishment of all present, the document confirmed every
word the unlettered warrior and statesman had utttered.
There can be little doubt but that a large majority of their
traditions are based upon truth; though passing as they have
through so long a period of time, it is reasonable to suppose
that many errors have crept in.

But one has given his opinion, on page 92 of his "History
of the Indian Tribes of North America," in the following
positive and presumptuous assertion, though his apparent
ignorance of all the characteristics (well known to the thous
ands of the White Race who have lived among them and
studied them a long life-time) of the North American Indians
so plainly manifested throughout his entire work, entitles
his assumed learned opinion regarding the truth or untruth
of the traditions of the North American Indians, or anything
else concerning that people, to but little, if any, credit. He
boldly asserts, with a seemingly great indifference as re
gards its truth, that "Nothing can be more uncertain, and
more unworthy, we will not say of credit, but of consid
eration, than their (the Indians') earlier traditions; and
probably there is not a single fact in all their history, sup
ported by satisfactory evidence, which occurred half a cen
tury previous to the establishment of the Europeans."
Though all admit that the voices of tradition coming from
all Nations — even from our own ancestors, the Britons — are
enshrouded, to a greater or less extent, in dense and dubious
fogs, and become more dim and distant as we go further
.back into the past. Yet that does not necessarily bring even

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 207

-the traditions of the North American Indians under his edict,
"Nothing can be more uncertain, and more unworthy, we
will not say of credit, but of consideration, than their tra
ditions, "as here comes to our aid modern Oriental Discovery,
with records engraven on rocks and stamped on bricks —
records contemporary with the events, and in all cases inde
pendent of the modern authority — since the records have
been hidden from the eyes of both the believer and disbe
liever. Inscriptions are disclosed, in languages now dead,
in characters long- forgotten, and to which every key had
been apparently lost. Ancient cities and countries, Thebes,
Ninevah, Pompeii, Balbee, Babylon, Jerusalem and Egypt
rise to testify and confirm the credit of many of tne tra-
ditons, fables and legends of the Old World. And so also,
from the buried past of the New World, hundreds of wit
nesses have already been summoned, and are still being
summoned, that confirm the credit of the traditions and
legends of the North American Indians, and to which they
pointed back through the long vista of ages past, ere the
Indians were known to the White Race, and give the merited
contradiction to the assertion that their traditions "merit
not even consideration."

An ancient Choctaw tradition attributes the origin of the
prairies along the western banks of the Tombigbee River, to
some huge animals (mammoths) that existed there at the
advent of their ancestors from the west to Mississippi.
Their tradition also states that the Nahullo, (Supernatural)
a race of giant people, also inhabited the same country,
•with whom their forefathers oft came in hostile contact.
These mighty animals broke off the low limbs of the trees in
eating the leaves, and also gnawed" the bark off the trees,
which, in the course of time, caused them to wither and die;
that they roamed in different bands, which engaged in des
perate battles whenever and wherever they met, and thus
caused them to rapidly decrease in numbers; and that, in the
course of years all had perished but two large males, who,
separate and alone, wandered about for several years — each
confining himself to the solitude of the forest many miles
from the other. Finally, in their wanderings they met, and
at once engaged in terrible conflict in which one was killed.
The survivor, now monarch of the forests, strolled about for
a fewxyears wrapt in the solitude of his own reflections and
independence — then died, and with him the race became
extinct.

That the Choctaw traditions of both the mammoth and
great men, was based on truth as to their former existence^
.in the southern and western parts of this continent is satis^

208 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

factorily established by the many mammoth skeletons of
both men and beasts and fragments of huge bones that have
been, and are continually being" found in different parts of
the country, and all of whom, according- to their tradition
were contemporary with the ancient fathers of the present
Indian race. It is "well known that the ancient existence of
those giants and mammoth was wholly unknown to the
White Race, until the excavation of their bones proved their
former existence; yet were known to the Indians to have
existed and so declared; but which was regarded by the
whites as only an Indian fable, unworthy of belief or even a
second thought. A huge skeleton of one of those ancient
animals was found in March, 1877, four miles east of the
town of Greenville, Hunt county, Texas. I secured a frag
ment of the skeleton, evidently a part of the femoral bone,
which measured twenty-one inches in circumference. A
tooth measured three inches in width, five inches in length
along the surface of the jaw bone and five inches in depth
into the jaw, and weighed the seemingly incredible weight
of eleven pounds. The teeth proved the monster herbifer-
ous, the anamel of which was in a perfect -state of preserva
tion. The greater part of the frame crumbled to dust, as
soon as exposed to the action of the air.

Here then it had found a burial place, among- others of
'the prehistoric population of the various animals which held
possession of this continent before, perhaps, tlie advent of
man, rising up before us like some old granite dome, weather-
beaten and darkened by the lapse of ages past. But death
came to it, as to its predecessors, whose cemeteries time has
opened here and there, and revealed to the scrutiny of the
curious, the testimony of vanished age . Many citizens of the
immediate neighborhood visited the place of disinterment,
and viewed the solitary grave and looked with wondering in
terest upon this stranger of hoary antiquity arising- from his
forest tomb where he has so long slept in silence, unknown
and unsung; whose history, as that of his mighty race, is
wrapt in the eternal silence of the unknown past. Yet, to
one who seeks to muse o'er the mysteries of the unwritten
long ago, this fossil tells a story of the mystic days of yore
and of the multiplied thousands of years since old Mother
Earth commenced to bear and then destroy her children.

Ah, could the records of the ages to which they point be
restored, how many doubts and problems would be solved?
But they only tantalize us by their near approach and uddi-
minished inscrutableness, while imagination shrinks from
the comtemplation of the intervening- years between. Yet,
from those relics of the ages past, an unlimited field for the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 209

imagination is open to view, which many thinkers have
attempted to explore only to find themselves utterly lost.

"Hupimmi hattak tikba a mintih hushi aiokatula" (our
, forefathers came from the west), declare the ancient Choc-
taws through their tradition, and "they saw the mighty
beasts of the forests, whose tread shook the earth; but our
forefathers' ancestry came from the northwest beyond the
the big water."

'"Tis but the tradition of the ignorant Indian — a foolish
fable," responded he of the pale-face, of boasted historical
attainments- When lo! accident unearths the long hidden
monster of traditional record, and the truth of the rejected
declaration of the despised Indian is established, and
with equal truth establishing the fact that, mid all
our boasted ancient pedigree, theirs is more ancient, and
perhaps more honorable, reaching back through the vista of
pre-historic times to the" dim and hazy regions of ages past
and unknown.

Also of the tradition of the Choctaws which told of a race
of giants that once inhabited the now State of Tennessee,
and with whom their ancestors fought when they arrived in
Mississippi in their migration from the west, doubtless Old
Mexico. Their tradition states the Nahullo (race of giants)
was of wonderful stature; but, as their tradition of the mas
todon, so this was also considered to be but a foolish
fable, the creature of a wild imagination, when lo! their
exhumed bones again prove the truth of the Choctaws' tradi
tion. In the fall of 1880, Mr. William Bevtrly, an old gentle
man 84 years of age living near Piano, Collin County, Texas,
and who was born in west Tennessee and there live'd to man
hood, stated to me that near his father's house on a small
creek were twenty-one mounds in consecutive order forming
a crescent, each distant from the other about fifty feet
~and each with a base of seventy-five or eighty feet in
diameter, and rising to an average height of forty feet; that
he, when a boy twelve years of age, was present with his
father, when an excavation was made in one of the moundjTin
which human bones of enormous size were found, the femoral
bones being five inches longer than the ordinary length, and
the jaw bones were so large as to slip over the face of a man
with ease. This statement was confirmed by Rev. Mr.
Rudolph of McKinney, Texas, and several others, all men of
undoubted veracity, which places the truth of the former
existence of the mounds, their excavations and results, as
well as the Choctaw tradition, beyond all doubt and even
controversy.

In regard to the race of giants that1 once occupied 'the

210 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

now State of Tennessee and mentioned in the tradition of the
ancient Choctaws, Mr. H. S. Halbert, an esteemed friend,
says in a letter to me, January 22, 1878, "I will give you some
facts which modern researches have thrown upon the
ancient occupancy of this continent, on the Atlantic seaboard
of\the United States stretching- from the coast of North
Carolina up to and through New England. I refer particu
larly to the seaboard .

"I am satisfied that the Indian race were in occupancy of
this seaboard region only about 200 years before the discov
ery of America in 1492, I give the reasons:

-1* About the year 1000, A. D. (I quote the date from
memory, not having the authories before me) the Northmen
discovered America and made some settlements on the New
England coast. All this, as you know, is historical. The
Northmen there came in contact with a people whom they
called Skrellings. Now these Skrellings, from the descrip
tion given by them were not Indians, but Esquimaux. They
were the same kind of people the Northmen had previously
met in Greenland and whom they called also Skrellings, or
rather Skraellinger. This is plain proof that 500 years be
fore Columbus, the Esquimaux race was inhabiting the sea
board of New England and not the Indians.

"Again, the Tuscarora Indians, now living in Canada,
but formerly from North Carolina, state in their traditions
that they came from the west and settled on the North Caro
lina seaboard about the year A. D. 1300. Their traditions
also state that they came in contact with a people of short
steiture, ignorant of maize and eaters of raw flesh.

"Now to whom does this description apply but to the
Esquimaux? Thirdly, relics have been discovered — imple
ments of various kinds, along the seaboard exactly similar to
those used by the Esquimaux of the present day. All this
is plain proof to my mind, that the Esquimaux once inhabited
the Atlantic seaboard as far south as North Carolina, and
that they were pushed northward by the influx of the incom
ing Indian tribes; and that- the Indian had not been settled
but for comparatively a short period in this seaboard at the
time of Columbus' discovery. The Mound Builders seemed
to have never occupied this seaboard stretching from North
Carolina upward. Now as to the Delaware tradition.

"The Delawares, or Leni L/enape as thev style them
selves in their native tongue, have a tradition that they came
from the west. When they came to the Great River,
perhaps, somewhere in the latitude of St. Louis, they
found a people of tall stature, and living- in towns. This

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 211

people the Delawares called Allegewi. They asked
the Allegewi for permission to cross the river, which was
granted. The Alleg-ewi, however, seeing the Indians con
stantly coming from the west in such large numbers,
and fearing they would ultimately dispossess them of their
country, commenced war upon them. After years of fight
ing, the Allegewi were defeated and driven out of their
country — retreating southward, and the Delawares and other
tribes took possession of their country. Now these Allegewi
are without doubt the same stock of people spoken of in Choc-
taw tradition as the Nahoolo."

The word Nahoolo is a corruption of the Choctaw word
Nahullo and is now applied to the entire White Race, but
anciently it referred to a giant race with whom they came in
contact when they first crossed the Mississippi river. These
giants, says their tradition, as related to the missionaries
occupied the northern part of the now States of Mississippi
and Alabama and the western part of Tennessee. The true
signification of the word Nahullo is a superhuman or super
natural being, and the true words for white man are Hattak-
tohbi. The Nahullo were of white complexion, according to
Choctaw tradition, and were still an existing people at the
time of the advent of the Choctaws to Mississippi; that they
were a hunting people and also cannibals, who killed and
ate the Indians whenever they could capture them, conse
quently the Nahullo were held in great dread by the Indians
and were killed by them whenever an opportunity was
presented; by what means they finally became extinct, tradi
tion is silent.

"Chemical analysis of the bones of this giant race in
Tennessee and elsewhere," says Mr. H. S. Halbert, in a
letter of January 3rd, 1878, "indicate the ravages of one of
the most terrible diseases to which flesh is heir. Bones ex
humed from these ancient cemeteries indicate with painful
certainty that syphilis was, at least, one cause of the extinct
ion of this ancient people.1 It was long supposed that syph
ilis was imported into this continent by the European race.
That may have been the case, in the historical period, but I
have no doubt it prevailed with awful fatality among that
ancient people, who -dominated a large portion of this
continent before the advent of the Indian race. -

"Mr. Grant L/incicum, (Dr. Gideon Lincicum, with whom
I was personally acquainted, was an educated white man,
who came to the Choctaw Nation after the advent of the mis
sionaries, and settled at Columbus, then a small place, and
afterwards wrote a MS. of the Choctaw habits, customs,
traditions and legends, which has been lost) "stated that

212 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

they (the Mound Builders) were, according- to the Choctaw
tradition, a hunting- people. He certainly must be in error
on this point. (Not so; Lincicum used the pronoun "they"
with reference to the Nahullo, and not to the Mound Build
ers, of whom their traditions never spoke). Now I believe
that the Mound Builders were of much fairer complexion
than the Indian, perhaps almost, if not quite, as fair as we,
and were an agricultural people also. Disease and war no
doubt were the main causes of their extinction. Detached
oifsliODts of them may have amalgamated with the Indian
tribes, and thus lost their physical peculiarities, but at the
same time kept up with their tribal organization. The Man-
dan Indians (now extinct) are supposed to have been a de-
g-enerate and amalgamated offshoot of the Mound Builders,.
ln--their manners and customs they were strikingly differen.
from the other Indians. I have no doubt but the researches
of antiquarians in some manner, to us yet unknown, will
throw much light upon the early occupants of this con
tinent."

Be that as it may, I still believe in the Choctaw traditions
—that the Nahulio who inhabited North Mississippi and Ala
bama, and West Tennessee, were "a hunting people," as
they have left no trace whatever of having been agricultur
ists, ad the unbroken forests of majestic trees of ages
growth, that covered the land everywhere at the advent the
of the Europeans, evidently prove.

Still I admit, with friend Halbert, that, possibly the Al-
legewi of Delaware tradition may be the Nahulio of Choctaw
tradition, — if they were of white complexion, as the word
Nahulio is emphatically applied to the white race and no
other. If white, may they not be of the Northmen, who, it
is said, ''established a few colonies upon the Atlantic coast
A. D. 1000. ?" Then, if the North American Indians are not
the Mound builders, (which has not yet been satisfactorily
proved) may not the Northmen be?

Some hate believed that the Nahulio were the Carib
Indians, as they were said to be of gigantic stature and also
cannibals, and who once inhabited our Gulf coast. The}'
were found by Columbus in the West Indies, and they are
still found in the isles of the Caribbean sea and Venezuela.
The early French writers of Louisiana called the Caribs by
their Indian name Attakapas, and Attakapas Parish in Louis
iana took its name from that tribe. The French translated
Attakapas, Man-eater. Attakapas is a corruption of the
Choctaw words Hattakapa, (man eatable) which they (the
French), no doubt, got from the Choctows, who gave the
tribe that name. I am inclined to believe that the Nahulio

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 213

4

of the Choctaw tradition were not regular cannibals, but that
they sacrificed human victims in their religious ceremonies,
which in extreme cases may, perhaps, have required their
officiates to eat a portion also of the victim's flesh. The same
also of the Caribs, — hence Hattakapa, (man eatable) instead
of Hattakupa, eater.

That the fore-fathers of the present Choctaws, Chicka-
sawrs, Cherokees and Muscogees migrated ag-es ago from
Mexico to their ancien^abodes east of the Mississippi river
there can be scarcely a doubt; and that they were a branch
of the Aztecs there is much in their ancient traditions and
leg'ends upon which to predicate, at least, a reasonable sup
position, if not a belief. The Aztecs are regarded by some
asxthe first of the human race that came to the North Amer
ican continent, and by others as one of the oldest races of the
human family upon earth, whose records and traditions point
back to those of the books of Genseis and Job . Though
the historical legends of the above named tribes do not divide
the ages past of their race into four epochs as the Aztecs, as
GamV Dom Yasco Da, the Portuguese mariner and discov
erer of the maritime route to India near the close of the 14th
century, asserts; and the first of which terminated in a de
struction of the people of the world by famine, the second by
wind, the third by fire, and the fourth by water, (very simi
lar to the traditions and legends of the Hindoos), yet they do
point back to many historical facts of the Christian's Bible,
which have been handed dowrii by tradition through ages and
point to great and important events of the long past, equally
showing that their race, as well as the Aztecs, are among
the oldest of the human race, and also among the first that
came to the North American continent. These legends,
traditions and parts of histories point back to pestilences,
. plagues and cataclysms preceded by long periods of dark
ness, then dense clouds followed by the return of light to the
earth, during which the human race was nearly exterminated,
which are fully sustained by the geologists of the present
clay, who affirm that there has been an age of thick clouds
and of floods, snows and glacier ice.

The Choctaws' endurance of pain — even to excruciating
torture — and to him the true exponent of every manly virtue,
was equal to that of any of his race and truly astonishing to
behold; and he who could endure the severest torture7with
the least outward manifestation of suffering, was regarded
by his companions as .most worthy of admiration and adula
tory praise, the bravest of the brave. No race of the human
family, of which I have read or heard, ever endured turture,
without a murmur, groan^or sigh, as did the North Ameri-

214 .. HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

can Indians when inflicted by an enemy to elicit a groan or
sigh — to them a manifestation of disgraceful weakness;
therefore, both men and women, endured the fire at the
stake, or to be cut to pieces by piece-meal, without any mani
festation of pain whatever; but derided their tormentors and
mocked at their efforts to force even a groan from their vic
tim. Of all the animals of their forests, there were but two
that no torture could force from them a manifestation of pain
—the wolfe and the opossum:

Even the little Choctaw boys took delight in testing the
degrees of their manhood by various ways of inflicting" pain..
I have often seen the little fellows stir up the nests of yellow
jackets, bumble-bees, hornets and wasps, and then stand
over the nests of the enraged insects which soon literally
covered them, and fight them with a switch in each hand;
and he who stood and fought longest without flinching — fore
shadowed the future man — was worthy 'the appellation of
Mighty Warrior. But the business ends of the hornets,,
bees and wasps, noted for their dispatch in all matters of
this kind, universally effected a hasty retreat of the intrtider
upon their domiciles, sooner or later — much to the delight of
his youthful companions and acknowledged by an explosion
of yells and roars of laughter. But the discomfitted embryo
warrior consoled himself by daring- any one of his merry
making companions to "brave the lion in his den," as he had
and endure longer than he did the combined attacks of the
valiant little enemy. The challenge was most sure to be ac
cepted, but invariably with the same result, a retreat at the
expense of a hearty laugh. From one to three minutes was
the average length of a battle, the insects holding the field
invariably. I have also seen them place a hot coal of fire on
the back of the hand, wrist and arm, and let it burn for
many seconds — bearing it with calm composure and without
the least manifestation of pain; thus practicing those first
lessons of endurance which were to enable them, when ar
rived to manhood, to undergo the most dreadful tortures
without manifestation of pain, or experience the deepest
sorrow without the slightest emotion. Verily, who can offer
a better claim than the North American Indian to the title,
"The stoic of the woods— the man without a tear?" As a
race of people, they have exhibited a power of enduring the
severest torture of which it is possible to conceive without a
murmur, without a groan, or even the movement of a mus
cle; in this differing from all Nations of people that have ever
been known to exist. A few years ago, in the Sherman and
Sheridan's wars of exterminating- the unfortunate and help
less western Indians, it is stated that, during a fight with

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 215

y 9

some white men. who had made an attack upon an Indian vil
lage of a western tribe, an Indian mother concealed her little
daughter — a mere child — in a barrel, telling her to remain
perfectly quiet no matter what should take place. After the
battle the soldiers found the little girl with her arm fearfully
shattered by a minnie ball, but the little sufferer had not
uttered a word. Was there ever recorded of any other Na
tion of people such manifestations of heroic fortitude?

Patience was also considered among the Choctaws a
bright and manly virtue and in connection with that of en
durance, formed the basis from which they derived all the
other qualities of their characters; and they estimated their
success, both in war and hunting, as depending almost *ex-
clusively upon their unwearied patience and the ability of
great and long endurance.

The ancient Choctaws were as susceptible to all the
pleasing emotions produced by the sweet concords of sound
as any other people, yet their musical genius, in the inven
tion of musical instruments, never extended beyond that of
a cane flute and a small drum, which was constructed from
a section cut from a small hollow 'tree, over the hollow part
of which was stretched a fresh deer skin, cleansed from the
hair, which became very tight when dried; and when 'struck
by a stick made a dull sound, little inferior to that of our
common snare-drum; which could be heard at a considerable
distance; and though uncouth in appearance, and inharmo
nious in tone, as all drums, still its "voice" was considered
an indispensable adjunct as an accompaniment to all their
national and religious ceremonies; even as the ear-spl? Iting
discords of the- civilized snare or kettle-drum, united with
the deafening roar of the base drum are considered by the
white man as indispensable in all his displays of harmonj'.
Yet the ancient Choctaw, in all his solemn ceremonies, as
well as amusements and merry-makings, did not depend so
much upon the jarring tones of the diminutive drum, as he
did upon his own voice; which in concert with the monoto-
,nous tones of the drum, — to the cultivated and sensitive ear
a mere jargon of sound, — was to the Indian ear the most ex
citing music, and soon wrought him to the highest state of
excitement. In all their dances they invariably danced to
the sound of the indispensable drum, accompanied with the
low'hum of the drummer, keeping exact step with its mo
notonous tone. In the social dance alone were the women
permitted to participate, which to the youthful maiden of
"sweet sixteen," was truly the ultimatum of earthly bliss.

But little restraint, parental or otherwise, was placed
upon their children, hence they indulged in any and all

216 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

i , *

amusements their fancy might suggest. The boys in little
bands roamed from village to village at their own pleasure,
or strolled through the woods with their blow-guns and bow
and arrows, trying their skill upon all birds and squirrels
that were so unfortunate as to come in their way. They were
but little acquainted with the principles of right and wrong,
having only as their models the daring deeds of their fathers
in war and the chase, they only yearned for the time when
they might emulate them in heroic achievements ; and one
would very naturally infer that these boys, ignorant of all
restraint from youth to manhood, would have been, when
arrived to manhood, a set of desperadoes, indulging in every
vi<?e and committing every crime. But not so. No race of
young people ever grew up to manhood in any nation who
were of a more quiet nature and 'peaceful dispositions than
the youths of the old Mississippi Choctaws. They seldom
quarreled among themselves even in boyhood, and less, when
arrived to the state of manhood. To them in youth as well
as in advanced years, as to all of their race, the dearest of all
their earthly possessions from childhood to manhood, from
manhood to old age, and from old age to the grave, was their
entire and unrestrained freedom; and though untrammeled by
mortal restraint, yet there seemed to exist in their own
breasts a restraining influence, a counteracting power, that
checked the ungoverned passions of their uncultivated na
tures through life, and kept them more within the bounds of
prudence and reason, than any race of uneducated people I
ever knew.

Among- every North American Indian tribe from their
earliest known history down to the present, -there was and is
a universal belief in the existence of a God, and Supreme
Being, universally known among- all Indians as the Great
Spirit; and with whose attributes were associated all the
various manifestations of. natural phenomena; and in point of
due respect and true devotion to this Great Spirit — their
acknowledged God — they as a whole to-day excel, and ever
have excelled, the whites' in their due respect and true devo
tion to their acknowledged God. Never was an Indian known
to deny the existence of his God — the Great Spirit — and
attribute the creation of all things, himself included, to
chance. Never was a North American Indian known to deny
the wisdom and power of the Great Spirit as manifested iii
the creation of an intellectual and immortal being, yet found
and acknowledged it in the monkey.

Never was an Indian known to deny his immortality
bestowed upon him by the Great Spirit. " Immortality, that
most sublime thought in all the annals of fallen humanity,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

has ever found a resting place immovably fixed in every
Indian's heart, not one excepted;andunderitsbenigninfluence,
their uncultivated minds have expanded and shadows of
death been disarmed o.f terror; and though, through all the
ages past has been heard the inquiry — "Is there a latent
spark in the human breast that will kindle and glow after
death?" and though earth's learned of all time have pondered
over it, and pronounced it the world's enigma, and affirmed
and still affirm, death to be the end of all, eternal oblivion, an
endless sleep, yet the unlettered children of nature, the
despised, down-trodden Indians, have lo'ng had the problem
solved to their own satisfaction and peace of mind, never
experiencing- a doubt.

To the Choctaws, as well as to all Indians, the voice of
the distant muttering thunder that echoed from hill to hill
through their wide extended forests; the roaring wind and
lightning flash that heralded the approaching storm, were
but the voice of that Great Spirit, and they made them the
themes that filled their souls with song and praise. They
ever heard the voice of that unseen Great Spirit throughout
.all nature — in the rustling leaf and the sighing breeze; in the
roaring cataract and the murmuring brook; and they ex
pressed their souls' adoration; understood and comprehend
ed by them alone, in their songs and dances. To them all
nature ever spoke in lang'uage most potential, and their im
mortality and future existence in another world they never
doubted, though their ideas of future rewards and punish
ments beyond the tomb were feeble and confused.

It was their ancient custom to leave the murderer in the
hands of the murdered man's relatives and friends; and, .as
"an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" was recorded
.upon their statute book, he was, sooner or later, most sure to
fall by an unknown. "and unseen hand. Sometimes, however,
the slayer, appeased the avenger by paying a stipulated
amount; buk this was of rarex occurrence. Soon after the
missionarieiffcwere established among them, a company, of
armed ar:d ntounted police, called "Light Horse Men," .were
organized for -'each district, in whom was vested the power
of arresting and trying all violators of the law. They were
continually riding over the country settling all difficulties
that arose among parties or individuals, and arresting all
violators of the law. The custom of leaving the murderer to
be disposed of as the relatives of the deceased saw proper,
was then set aside, and the right of trial by the Light Horse
who acted in a three fold capacity — sheriff, judge and jury,
was awarded to all offenders. The Light Horse were com
posed of a brave and vigilant set of fellows, and nothing es-

218 PISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

caped their eagle eyes; and they soon became a terror to
white whiskey peddlers who invaded the Choctaw territories
at that time. When caug'ht, the whiskey was poured upon
the ground and the vender informed that his room was pre
ferable to his company.

When a murder was committed, the Light Horse at once
took the matter into consideration, and after hearing1 all the
testimony pro and con, pronounced the verdict in accordance
thereto. If the person accused was found to be guilty, there
and then, the time and place of his execution was designated,
and the doomed man was informed that his presence would
accordingly be expected. He never failed to make his ap
pearance at the appointed place and hour, and all things be
ing ready, a small red spot was painted directly over his
heart as a target for the executioner; and, being placed in
position, calmly received the fatal bullet, soon the grave
closed over him and thus the matter ended. Sometimes the
condemned would request a short respite, a few days exten
sion of time, assigning as a reason for the desired delay, that
a grand ball-play, dance or hunt, was soon to take place, in
which he desired to participate, and as it did not take place
until after the appointed day of his execution, he requested
the favor of postponing his little affair until afterward. The
request was seldom refused. The doomed man then desig
nated the day and hour on which he would return and attend
to the matter under consideration. He went to the ball-play,
the dance, or the hunt, engaged in and enjoyed his anticipated
fun, then returned true to his, promised word and paid the
penalty of the violated law, by calmly receiving the fatal shot.
The rifle was invariably used as the instrument of execution,
for the soul of the Choctaw who had been executed by hang
ing was regarded as accursed — never being permitted to
join his people in the happy hunting grounds, but his spirit
must forever haunt the place where he was hung. Hence
their horror of death by hanging, and the gallows has ever
been unknown among them. If the condemned-should fail to
appear, which was never known to be, at the time and place
of his execution, or should manifest any emotion of fear dur
ing his execution, it was regarded as a disgrace to himself, his
relatives, and his nation as a Choctaw warrior, which 110 length
of time could ever efface; hence their honor, resting upon
their firmness in the hour of death, was watched with jeal
ous care. Never was a full-blood Choctaw known to evade
the death penalty, passed upon him by the violated law, by
flight. If he violated the law he calmly abided the conse
quences, hence all places of imprisonment were unknown.
For minor offenses, whipping was the punishment; fifty

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 219

lashes for the first offense, one hundred for the second, and
death by the rifle for the third offense in case of theft, and
so it is today.

He who had been condemned to receive this punish
ment never attempted to evade it; but promptly presented
himself, or herself, at the designated place of punishment.
This punishment was inflicted several times at the mission
of Hebron, to which I was an eye witness. Before the hour
appointed, the neighborhood assembled around the church
which stood about forty rods distant from the mission-house,
where they indulged in social conversation and smoking;
never, however, mentioning, or even hinting the subject
which had brought them together. The culprit was as gay
and cheerful as any of them, walking with an air of perfect
indifference, chatting and smoking writh the various groups
sitting around on blankets spread upon the ground. Precisely
at the moment designated, the Light-Horse, -who constituted
a sort of ambulatory jury, to arrest, try and punish all
violators of the law, would appear. The crowd then went
into the church, closed the door and commenced singing a
religious hymn, taught them by the missionaries, which they
continued until the tragedy outside was over. At the same
time the culprit shouted "Sa mintih!" I have come! then
ejaculated uSa kullo!" (I am strong!) He then elevated his
arms and turned his back to the executioner 'and said: "Fum-
mih!'' (whip). When he had received fifteen or twenty
blows, he calmly turned the other side to the Fum-mi /(one
who whips); and then again, his. back, uttering not a word
nor manifesting the least sign of pain. As soon as the
whipping was over, the church door was opened and the
whole assembly came out and shook hands with the "Fum-
ah" (whipped), thus reinstating him to his former position in
society, and the subject was then and there dropped, never
to be mentioned again, and it never was.

The Choctaws had great pride of, race. The warrior, s-
proudest boast was Choctaw Siah! (I am a Choctaw!) and he
still clings to it with commendable tenacity even as he does
to his native language. It has been said that no people have
been truly conquered who refuse to speak the language of
the conqueror; therefore the North American Indians, that
subdued, yet unsubduable people, have never ceased to speak
their native tongue.

The law on whipping for minor offenses, especially that
for theft, was, fifty lashes on the bare back for the first
offense; one hundred for the second, and death by the rifle
for the third. This law is still in force in the Choctaw Nation.
Truly, if the whites would adopt this method of dealing with

220 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

\

their own thieves, would there not be less stealing among"
them?

As an illustration of this peculiar characteristic of the
Indians — so different from that of any race of whom I have
heard — i. e., never fleeing from, or in any way attempting
to evade the penalties of the violated law, I here introduce
the sad scene in the execution of Chester Dixon, a Choctaw
youth convicted of murder at a term of the Circuit Court of
the Choctaw Nation in December, 1883.

Chester Dixon was a young, full-blood Choctaw7, about 17
years of age. He was subject to fits, during which he seem
ed to be unconscious of his acts. Aside from this malady,
he was considered rather a brig'ht boy. He lived with his
mother and step-father, five or six miles from Atoka. Their
nearest neighbors were a Choctaw known as Washington and
Martha, his wife. One evening Washington, on his return
home from Atoka, was shocked in finding- the body of his
wife lying on the floor of his cabin fearfully mangled, the
head severed fronuthe body, with several frightful gashes,
evidently inflicted with an ax, which lay by the side of the
corpse. The alarm was given, and it was soon ascertained
that Chester Dixon was seen coming from the house, in
which the deed had been committed, covered with blood.
He was arrested, trie'd by the Choctaw7 law, condemned, and
sentenced to be shot on an appointed day, at noon. He was
neither, confined nor guarded, but went where he pleased,
having pledged his word of honor, however, that he would be
at the place of execution punctual to the hour appointed.
Here I would deviate a little from the subject, to show how
prone the whites are to misrepresent the Indians in nearly
everything they write about them; and it does seem that
they cannot write a half dozen words about this people with
out shamefully misrepresenting them. It seems incredible,
nevertheless it is true, as the thousands of publications that
flood the country prove. I saw an article in a Texas news
paper in regard to this very case of Chester Dixon, in which
the writer says: "The laws of the Choc taws provide for NO
APPKAL, or poor Chester's case might have been re-consider-
ed;for after his conviction he was attacked with one of his ac
customed fits, which was conclusive and satisfactory evidence
that he was subject \o temporary aberration, during \vhich
he was irresponsible for his actions. His attorney had neg
lected to make this plea in behalf of his client during the
trial, and once the sentence of death having been pronounced
it was unalterable." Now, the above is utterly false, and the
writer should learn to keep in respectful distance of the
truth, at least, before he attempts to write about the Choc-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 221

taws. The truth is, the laws of the Choctaws provide for
three appeals — first from the County Court to the District
Court; thence to the Supreme Court; thence to the United
States Supreme Court. But to return to Chester Dixon. A
few days before the execution, Dixon came with his
step-father to Atoka for the purpose of ordering his coffin.
He had his measure taken for the grave, and then calmly
informed his step-father where he wished to be buried.

The day of execution came; and a few, mostly whites as
sembled at the place of execution to witness the sad scene.
The doomed boy did not make his appearance to within
twenty or thirty minutes of the appointed time/ and many of
the whites, judging- from their own standpoint, began to
doubt the integrity of the Choctaw, and expressed those
doubts one to another. But true to his plighted word, the
truthful youth soon rode up; and, dismounting" from his
horse, quietly walked up to a little group of Choctaws, who
were sitting around a fire, without taking any notice what
ever of the surroundings, and calmly took his seat upon the
ground, with his head bowed between his knees as if lost in
meditation. An aged Choctaw man soon approached him,
and, speaking to him in his own language, encouraged him to
bravely meet his fate as a young Choctaw brarve; and to die
willingly, since nothing- but his life could atone for the one
he had taken; and also to feel that his people had been just
in condemning" him. He spoke not a word nor raised his
head during his old friend's conversation; but at its conclu
sion he looked up and around for a moment, then grasped
the old man's hand, as if to say, I'll be firm, and he was to
the last. Then his Choctaw friends, both men and women
came up and bade him their last earthly adieu; with all of
whom he shook hands, but spoke not a word. After which,
the sheriff brought the unfortunate boy a change of clothing,
in which he clothed himself for the grave, without the least
discernible sign of agitation; he then took his seat on a
blanket spread for Jbim, and his mother combed his hair with
calm composure — her last act of maternal love; and though,
with a heart bleeding at every pore, no outward manifesta
tion was made, yet her face told the storm of grief that raged
within; while, true to her nature, sh'e clung to her boy to the
last moment, to console him with a mother's presence and
a mother's love.

The sheriff then told Chester that the hour of execution
had come. He arose at once and quietly walked to the spot
pointed out to him by the sheriff, and stopped facing his
coffin — the personification of calm composure and firm resig
nation. His step-father and cousin then walked up, the

222 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

former taking- him by the righthand and the latter by the left.
The same venerable old man who had first approached him,
again came forward and made a little black spot upon his
breast, just over the heart, and once more whispered a few^
words of parting- encourag-emerit, then walked away. The
sheriff then bound a handkerchief over his eyes, asked him
to kneel, and beckoned to a man who had until then kept
himself concealed. This man was a cousin of Chester Dixon,
and had been chosen by Chester to do the shooting-. He now
advanced, and taking his position five or six paces from the
poor boy, leveled his Winchester • rifle and fired.
The ball 'went to the mark. At the report of the rifle
Dixon fett forward, and died without a . struggle. The
mother now came forward took charg-e of the lifeless body of
her boy, and with the assistance of friends, laid it away in
the grave. No confusion nor even the semblance of excite
ment disturbed the solemn proceedings. And when con
trasted to the civilized mode of punishment that of hanging
— the Choctaw method is certainly more humane and effec
tive, to say the least of it.

I will state another instance that took place among the
Choctaws when living in their ancient domains.

A Choctaw unfortunately killed another in a fit of pas
sion. He was duly tried, convicted, and sentenced to be
shot on a certain day; but requested a stay of the execution,
upon the plea that his wife and little children would be left
in a destitute condition unless he was allowed to return
home and finish making his brop. His request was granted
with no other assurance than his pledged word that he would
return and receive his death sentence. The day of execution
was fixed at a time when the crop would be matured, and
the doomed man returned to his home and family. The fatal
day came and found the necessary labor on the crop finished
and also the noble Choctaw at the appointed hour and place,
where he calmly received the fatal bullet which at once
closed his earthly career.

Thus sacred was held the noble virtue, Truth, among
the ancient Choctaws when they lived east of the Mississippi
river; and thus sacred is it still held among the full-bloods
west of the same river; and I have never known or heard of a
full-blood Choctaw or Chickasaw, during my personal ac
quaintance with that truly grand and noble people for seven
ty-five years, who violated his pledged word of honor by fail
ing to appear at the time and place designated, to suffer the
penalties of the violated law, be it death by the rifle or fifty
-or a hundred lashes at the whipping post. And truly it may
be said: No race of people ever adhered with greater ten-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 223

acity to truth, or the greater hatred for the falsehood, than did
and do the Choctaws. They truly abhorred and still abhor a
liar. Years before the advent of the missionaries among
them, one of their chiefs was strangely addicted to lying-;
and so great did their disgust finally become that they, in
council assembled, banished him "from their Nation under
pain of death if he ever returned. This exiled chief then
settled with his family in the now parish of Orleans, Louisi
ana, on a small tract of land which projects into lake Pontch-
artrain, and erected his lonely cabin near a bayou which is
connected with the lake. And to this day, that small tract
of land, it is said, is called Ho-lub-i Miko (Lying Chief), hav
ing taken its name from the exiled Choctaw chief.

The territories of the Choctaws in 1723, in which year
the seat of the French government in Louisiana, then under
Bienville, was definitely transferred from Natchez to New
Orleans, then containing about one hundred houses and three
thousand inhabitants, extended from the Mississippi River
to the Black Warrior, east: and from Lake Pontchartrain to
the territories of the Natchez, west, and Chickasaws, north.
They possessed upwards of sixty principal towns, and
could muster, as was estimated, twenty-five thousand war
riors.

The Choctaws called all fables Shukha Anump (hog
talk) as a mark of derision and contempt. Some of their
fables, handed down by tradition through unknown genera
tions, were similar in the morals- taught byx those of the
famous ^Esop. One of these Shukha Anumpas was that of
the turkey and the terrapin: — A haughty turkey gobbler,
with long flowing beard and glossy feathers, meeting a ter
rapin one bright and beautiful spring morning, thus accos
ted him with an expression of great comtempt; "What are
you good for?" To which the terrapin humbly replied
"many things." "Name one," continued the turkey. "I
can beat you running," said the terrapin. "What nonsense!"
"I thought you were a fool, now I know it," continued the
turkey.

"I repeat it, I can beat you running, distance half a mile"
continued the terrapin. "To prove you are a fool in believ
ing such an absurdity, I'll run the race with you," responded
the turkey with marked disgust. The day was appointed,
the distance marked off, and the agreements entered into,
one of which was, the .terrapin was to run with a white
feather in his mouth by which the turkey might be able to
distinguish him from other terrapin; another was, the turkey
was to give the terrapin the advantage of one hundred yards
in the start. In the intervening time of the race, the wily

224 ;. HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

terrapin secured the assistance of another terrapin to help
him out of his dilemma, and thereby establish the reputation
of the terrapin family in point of fleetness to the discomfiture
of the haughty turkey. Therefore, he secretly placed his
assistant, with the white insignia also in his mouth, at the
terminus to which the race was to be run. Early on the
morning of the day agreed upon, the competitiors were at
their posts — the contemptuous turkey at the goal, and the
dispassionate terrapin a hundred yards on the line.' The
turkey was to give the signal for starting by a loud gobble.
The signal was given, and the race 'was opened. The turkey
soon came up with the terrapin, who had gotten but a few
feet from his goal, and shouted derisively as he passed by
"What a fool!"

To which the terrapin ejaculated — "Not as big as you
imagine." The confident turkey ran on about half way, and
then stopped and turned off a little distance to secure his
breakfast, but kept an eye on the track that the terrapin
might not pass unobserved. After feeding about some time
and not seeing any thing of the terrapin, he began to fear he
had passed him unobserved; therefore, he started again at
full speed; and not'overtaking the terrapin as he expected,
he redoubled his exertions and reached the goal breathless,
but to find the terrapin with the white feather in his mouth
(his supposed opponent) already there, Moral. — The scorn
ful are often outwitted by those upon whom they look with
contempt.

In estimating' character, all the ancient Indians that once
lived east of the Mississippi river, if the statement of the
early writers and noble missionaries be true, and he, whose
incredulity would,make him doubt their statements is in
capable of believing any thing — even his own senses — regard
ed moral worth alone; The man must possess truth, honor,
patriotism, bravery, hospitality and virtue — all of which
seemed intuitive to the minds and hearts of those North
American Indian's of the south. I know this will be regarded
by thousands of my own race as untenable ground. Never
theless, I speak of that I know — obtained by a long life,
personal acquaintance with the Choctaws ami Chickasaws,
and the same acquaintance with different missionaries to the
Cherokees, Muscogees and Seminoles, all sustained by the
great philanthorpist Oglethorpe and the noted ministers of
the gospel John and Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield,
and their missionary successors sent out to the Indians by
the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches; and more,
proving beyond doubt the susceptibility of the Noi>th Ameri
can Indians to easily become civilized and christianized.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 225

^f In the disposition of their dead, the ancient Choctaws
practiced a strange method different from any other Nation
of people, perhaps, that ever existed. After the death of a
Choctaw, the corpse wrapped in a bear skin or rough kind
of covering- of their own manufacture, was laid out at full
length upon a high scaffold erected near the house of the
deceased, that it might be protected from the wild beasts of
the woods and the scavengers of the air. After the body
had remained upon the scaffold a sufficient time for the flesh'
to have nearly or entirely decayed, the Hattak fullih nipi
foni. (Bone Picker) the principal official in their funeral cere
monies and especially appointed for that duty — appeared
and informed the relatives of the deceased that he had now
come to perform the last sacred duties of his office to their
departed friend. Then, with the relatives and friends, he
marched with great solemnity of countenance to the scaffold
and. ascending which, began his awful duty of picking off the
flesh that still adhered to the bones, "with loud groans
and fearful grimaces, to which the friends below responded
in cries and wailings.

The Bone-Picker never trimmed the nails of his thumbs,
index and middle fingers which accordingly- grew to an as
tonishing length — sharp and almost as hard as flint — and well
adapted to the horrid business of their owner's calling.
After he had picked all the flesh from the bones, he then
tied it up in a bundle and carefully laid it upon a corner of
the scaffold; then gathering up the bones in his arms he de
scended and placed them in a previously prepared box, and
then applied fire to the scaffold, upon which the assembly
gazed uttering the most frantic cries and moans until it was
entirely consumed. Then forming a procession headed by
the Bone-Picker the box containing the bones was carried,
amid weeping and wailing, and deposited in a house erected
and consecrated to that purpose and called A-bo-ha fo-ni,
(Bone-house) with one of which all villages and towns were
supplied. Then all repaired to a previously prepared feast,
over which the Bone-Picker, in virtue of his office, presided
with much gravity and silent dignity.

As soon as the bone-houses of the neighboring villages
were filled, a general burial of the bones took place,"to which
funeral ceremony the people came from far and near, and,
in a long and imposing procession, with weeping and wailing
and loud lamentations of the women, bore off the boxes of
bones to their last place of rest, and there despositing them
in the form of a pyramid they were covered with earth three
or four feet in depth forming a conical mound. All then

226 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

returned to a previously designated village and concluded
the day in feasting-. ''V..

Thus many of the mounds found in Mississippi and
Alabama are but the cemeteries of the ancient Choctaws;
since, as often as the bone-houses became filled, the boxes of
bones were carried out to the same cemetery and deposited
on the previously made heap commencing- at the base and
ascending to the top, each deposit being covered up with
earth to the depth of three or four feet, and thus, by con
tinued accession through a long series of ages, became the
broad and high mounds, concerning which there has been so
much wild speculation with so little foundation for truth or
common sense. Even at the time the missionaries were
established among them (1818), many of the mounds were of
so recent date that not even bushes were growing upon them,
though the custom of thus laying away their dead had become
obsolete: still a few Bone-Pickers had survived the fall of
their calling, and were seen, here and there, wandering about
from village to village as ghosts of a departed age, with the
nails of the thumb, index and middle fingers still untrimmed,
and whose appearance indicated their earthly pilgrimage had
reached nearly to a century, some of whom I personally
knew.

Shortly before the advent of the missionaries, the cus
tom of placing the dead upon the scaffolds was abolished,
though not without much 'opposition; and that of burial in a
sitting posture was adopted, with also new funeral ceremon
ies, which were as follows: Seven men were appointed
whose duty it was to set up each a smooth pole (painted red)
around the newly made grave, six of which were about eight
feet high, and the seventh about fifteen, to which thirteen
hoops (made of grape vines) were suspended and so united
as to form a kind of ladder, while on its top a small white
flag was fastened. This ladder of hoops was for the easier
ascent of the spirit of the deceased to the top of the pole,
whence, the friends of the deceased believed, it took its final
departure to the spirit land.

They also believed that the spirits of the dead, after their
flight from the top of the pole to the unknown world, had to
cross a fearful river which stretched1 its whirling waters
athwart their way; that this foaming stream has but one
crossing, at which a cleanly peeled sweet-gum log, perfectly
round, smooth and slippery, reached from bank to bank;
that the moment the spirit arrives at the log, it is attacked
by two other spirits whose business is to keep any and all
spirits from crossing thereon. But if a spirit is that of a
good person, the guardians of the log have no power over it,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 227

and it safely walks over the log to the opposite shore, where
it is welcomed by other spirits of friends gone before,
and where contentment and happiness will forever be the lot
of all.

But alas, when the spirit of a bad person arrives at the
log-crossing- of the fearful river, it also is assailed by the
ever wakeful guards, and as it attempts to walk the slippery
log they, push it off into the surging waters below, to be help
lessly borne down by the current to a cold and barren des
ert, where but little game abounds and over which he is
doomed to wander, a forlorn hope, naked, cold and hungry.

When a death was announced, which was made by the
firing of guns in quick succession, the whole village and sur
rounding neighborhood — almost to a man — assembled at
once at the home of the deceased, to console and mourn with
the bereaved. On the next day a procession was formed
headed by seven men called Fabussa Sholih (Pole-bearer),
each carrying on his shoulder a long, slender pole painted
red, and all slowly and in profound silence marched to the
grave, where the poles were at once firmly set up in the
ground — three on each side of the grave, and one at the head,
on which thirteen hoops were suspended while on its top a
small white flag fluttered in the breeze. The corpse was
then carefully placed in its last earthly place of rest, the
grave filled up, and all returned to the former home of the
departed. They had specified cries at the grave of the de
ceased, which continued for thirteen moons. At the termi
nation of each cry, a hoop was taken off of the pole, and so
on until the last one was removed; then a grand funeral cere
mony was celebrated called Fabussa halut akuchchih, (pole
to pull down). And the manager of the pole-pulling was call
ed Hattak iti i miko, (their chief man); and the hunters sent
out to provide venison for the company on that occasion,
were called Hattak (man) illi (dead) chohpa (meat). That is,
meat for the dead man; or, more properly, meat for the obse
quies of the dead man.

To this celebration, or last commemoration the dead,
when all had assembled, the Fabussa halulli, (the same Fa-
"bussa Sholih who 'had set up the poles) under the command
of the Hattak iti i miko (the same who bore and set up the
long pole upon which was attached the hoops and flag) slowly
and silentl3T marched in solemn procession to the grave and
pulled up the poles, and carried them off together with the
hoops and concealed them in a secret place in the forest
where they were left to return to dust forever undisturbed.

As soon as the Fabussa Hallulli had disposed of the
poles and hoops, preparations were begun for the finale — a

228 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

feast and the grandrAboha hihlah, home dancing-, or dancing-
home of the deceased good man to the land of plenty and
happiness, and the bad man to the land of scarcity and suf
fering.

The festivities continued during- the day and the night
following" the pole-pulling". On the next morning- all returned
to their respective homes; and from that day he or she of the
grave became a thing'of the past, whose names were to be
mentioned no more. And they were not.

Among- the ancient Choctaws, a mare and colt, cow and
calf, and a sow and pig's were given to each child at its birth,
if the parents were able so to do, — and all, with few excep
tions, were able; this stock, with its increase under no cir
cumstances whatever, could be disposed of in any way; and
when he or she, as the case might be, became grown, the
whole amount was formally conveyed over to him or her.
Thus when a young- couple started out in life they had a
plenty of stock, if nothing- more.

Diseases, they believed, originated in part from natural
causes, therefore their doctors sought in nature for the
remedies. Graver maladies, to them, were inexplicable, and
for their cures they resorted to their religious superstitions
and incantations. They were very skillful in their treat
ment of wounds, snake bites, etc., Their knowledge of the
medicinal qualities of their various plants and herbs, in
wrhich their forests so bountifully abounded, was very great.
'Tis true they were powerless against the attacks of many
diseases— importations of the White Race, such as small-pox,
measles, whooping-cough, etc; yet, thev did not exhibit any
greater ignorance in regard to those new diseases, to them
unknown before, than do the doctors of the White Race, who
have had the experience of ages which has been handed
down to them through the art of printing, manifest in regard
to the new diseases that so oft attack their own race. The
art of blood-letting and scarifying was well understood and
practiced by many of their doctors, as well as the virtue of
cold and warm baths; and in many of the healing- arts they
fell not so far below those of the White Race as might be
HUpgosed, though many wrhite doctors imagine themselves
perfect in the healing art, since forsooth their diplomas
coast the signatures of the medical faculties in the world..

In cases of bowel affections they use persimmons dried
by the heat of the sun and mixed with a light kind of bread.
In case of sores, they applied a poultice of pounded ground
ivy for a few days, then carefully washing' the afflicted part
with the resin of the copal-tree. For fresh wounds they
made a poultice of the root of the cotton-tree which proved

HISTORY OF THK INDIANS 229

very efficacious; to produce a copious perspiration, a hot
decoction of the China root swallowed, had the desired effect.
They possessed an antidote for the bite and sting- of snakes
and insects, in the root of a plant called rattle snake's master,
having- a pungent yet not unpleasant odor. The root of the
plant was chewed, and also a poultice made of it was applied
to the wound, which at once checked the poison and the
patient was well in a few days. The medical properties of
the sassafras, sarsaparilla, and other medicinal plants, were
known to them. They possessed many valuable secrets to
cure dropsy, rheumatism, and many other diseases, which,
no doubt, will ever remain a secret with them, proving- that
their powers of observation, investigation and discrimination,
are not, by any means, to be regarded as contemptible;
while their belief, that the Great Spirit has provided a
remedy in plants for all diseases to which poor humanity
seems an heir, and never refuses to make it known to those
who seek the knowledge of it by proper supplications, is
praiseworthy in them to say the least of it.

Their doctors were held in great veneration, though
they oft practiced upon their patrons many frauds. Mill-
fort, p. 298, says: "when one of them had a patient on hand
a long time, and the poor sick fellow's means had been ex
hausted he privately told the relatives that his skill was ex
hausted, that he had done all in his power to no avail, and
that their friend must die within a few days at farthest; and,
with great seeming sympathy, set forth the propriety of
killing- him, and so terminate his sufferings at once. Having
the utmost confidence in the doctor's judgment and knowl
edge of the case, and also believing the case hopeless, the
poor fellow was at once killed." In proof of this, he states
that in 1772 a doctor thus advised concerning one of his pa
tients. "The sick man," he says, "suspecting, from the
actions of his physician, that he was advising the propriety
of ending his suffering by having him killed, with great effort
succeeded one night in crawling out of the house and making
good his escape. After much suffering he succeeded in
making his way into the Muscogee Nation, and fortunately
went to the house of Col. McGillivry, who, Samaritan like,
took him in^o his house, and soon restored him to his usual
health. At the expiration of several months he returned to
his home, and found his relatives actually celebrating his
funeral by burning the scaffold which they had erected to his
memory, with the accustomed weeping and wailing, — -^be
lieving him to be dead. His unlocked for appearance among
them, at that solemn hour and place, threw them into the
.greatest consternation, and, in horror and wild dismay, all

230 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

fled to the woods. Finding- himself thus received by his
own relatives and friends, he returned in disgust to the^
Muscogees and spent the remainder of his days among
them. But when his relatives had become truly satisfied
that he did not die, and was actually alive and well, they
made the doctor pay -heavily for the deception he had prac
ticed upon them, by killing him."

The greatest mortality among them was most generally
confined to the young-er children; while longevity was a
prominent characteristic among the adults. After the age of
six or eight years the mortality of disease among them -was
less than among the white children of the present day after
that age. But after those baneful diseases, scarlet fever,
measles, mumps, whooping-cough, diseases unknown to them
before, had been introduced among them, the fatality among
the children was distressing, frequently destroying the
greater number of the children in a village or neighborhood;
—being wholly ignorant as they were of the proper mode of
treatment was a great cause of the fearful fatality. Mental
or nervous diseases were unknown to the ancient Choctaws;
and idiocy and deformity were seldom seen. But of all the
"diseases" introduced among them by the white?, the most
pernicious and fatal in all its features, bearings, and con
sequences, to the Choctaw people, was, is, and ever \vill be,
Okahumma (red water or whiskey); which, when once
formed into habit, seemed to grow to a species of insanity
equal even to that so often exhibited among the whites.

"The Medicine Man," was a dignitary who swayed his
scepter alike among all Indians, but was altogether a very dif
ferent personage from the common physician. The Medicine
Man professed an insight into the hidden laws of Nature; he
professed a power over the elements, the fish of the waters
and the animals of the land; he could cause the fish to volun
tarily suffer themselves to be caught, and give success to the
hunter by depriving the denizens of the forest of their natural
fear of man; he could impart bravery to the heart of the war
rior, strength and skill to his arm and fleetness to his feet;
yea, could put to flight the evil spirits' of disease from the
bodies of the sick. He could throw a spell or charm over a
ball player that would disenable him to hit the post; or over
the ball-post that would prevent its being hit by anyone
whom he wished to defeat. Such were the professed attain
ments of the Indian "Medicine Man." But whether he
possessed all or any of the supernatural powers he profess
ed, it matters not, it is certain, however, that he possessed
one thing, the power, art, or skill, call it which you may, to
make his people believe it, and that was all-sufficient for him

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 231

— even as it is with all. humbug's. The Choctaws regarded
dreams as the direct avenues to the invisible world, the divine
revelations of the Great Spirit. If a vision of the spirit of an
animal appeared to the hunter in his dream, he felt confident
of success on the morrow's hunt. But though he invoked the
friendship, the protection and the good will of spirits, and
besought the mediation of the Medicine Man, he never would
confess his fear of death. But chide not too harshly, reader,
the poor, unlettered Indian for his superstitions and wild
beliefs, for the same long existed among the civilized Na
tions of the world, nor are they entirely exempt even at the
present day, nor is it likely they ever will be.

They lived in houses made of logs, but very comfortable;
not more rude or uncouth, however, than many of the whites
even of the present day. Their houses consisted generally
of two rooms, both of which were used for every domestic
purpose — cooking, eating, living and sleeping; nor was their
furniture disproportionate with that of the dwelling — for the
sitting room, a stool or two; for the kitchen, a pot or kettle,
two or three tin cups, a large and commodious wooden bowl,
and a horn spoon, constituted about the ultimatum — 'twas all
they needed, all they wanted, and with it they were perfectly
contented and supremely happy.

Tafula; (pro. Tarm-ful-ah," hominy; corrupted to Tom-
fuller), is made of pounded corn boiled, using lye for fermen
tation, and tafula tobi ibulhtoh (boiled corn mixed with
beans) were, and are to the present day, favorite dishes
among the Choctaws; nor need it be thought strange, as they
are dishes Worthy the palate of the most fastidious. The
taf ula,their favorite and indispensable dish was put into a large
bowl, around which all gathered, and each in turn using the
horn spoon to replenish his waiting mouth with the coveted
luxury. But little pains was taken in the preparation of
their food, which was as rude, though clean and nice, as the
means of preparing it. Having no tables or dishes, except
the wooden bowl, nor knives and forks, they squatted around
the pot of boiled meat and bowl of tafula, and each used his
or her fingers in extracting the contents of the pot, and con
veying it to the mouth, and the horn spoon by turns in
doing obeisance to the tafula — all in perfect harmony and
jollity.

They use another preparation/ for food called Botah
Kapussa, (cold flour) which was made of parched corn
pounded very fine; an ounce of which mixed with a little
water would in a few minutes become as thick as soup cooked
by a fire. Two or three ounces of this were sufficient to
sustain a man for a day.- In their war expeditions it

232 HISTORY OF THE 'INDIANS.

was an indispensable adjunct — the .sine qua non — to the
warrior's bill of fare, as they could not shoot game with the
rifle when upon the war-path in their enemy's territories for
fear of giving notice of their presence. Bunaha was another
food much used in the long ago. It was made , of pounded
meal mixed with boiled beans to which is added a little lye,
then made into a dough wrapped in corn husks and boiled.
Oksak (hickory nut), atapah (broken in) is still another; this
was made of pounded meal mixed with the meat of the
hickory nut instead of boiled beans, and cooked as buiiaha.
I have eaten the three kinds, and found them very palatable.

They were great lovers of tobacco; yet never chewed it,
but confined its use exclusively to the pipe, in which they
smoked the weed mixed with the dried leaf of the aromatic
sumac, which imparted to the smoke a delightful flavor,
agreeable even to the most fastidious nose. But they now
have learned to chew, which I ascertained by actual observa
tion, when riding over their country visiting them during
the year 1884 to 18(JO. Frequently I have ridden several miles
with different Choctaws, with whom I accidental!}' fell in com
pany, and to whom } offered a chew of tobacco, which was
frequently accepted; and I noticed they chewed it with as
much apparent delight and gusto, as their white brothers,
proving themselves worthy rivals in the accomplished art.
However, I could state^that the habit is not as universal, by
great odds, as among the white.

All the drudgery work about the house and the hunting'
camp was done by the wife assisted by her children; and as
the^wife of the Choctaw warrior and hunter was regarded as
the slave of her husband, so likewise may equally be
regarded the unfortunate wives of many oi" the boasted
civilized white men of this 19th century.

With the Choctaw wife, as with all Indians, parturition
was matter that gave no uneasiness whatever; nor did it
interfere with her domestic affairs, but for a few hours.
Unlike her civilized sister, she neither required nor desired,
nor accepted any assistance whatever. I have known them
to give birth to a child during the night, and the next morn
ing would find them at the cov/pen attending to the affairs
of the dairy. To have. a man physician, on such occasions,
was as abhorrent to her sense of modesty and revolting to her
feelings, as it was wholly unnecessary. And the old cus
tom is still adhered to by the present Choctaw wife and
mother. After a child was born, after undergoing the usual
necessary preliminaries, it was placed in a curiously con
structed receptacle called Ullosi afohka, (infant receptacle)
where, it spent principally the first year of its life, only

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 233

when taken out for »the purpose of washing and dressing1.
This curiously made little cradle (for such it may truly be
called) was often highly ornamented with all the pharapher-
nalia that a mother's love and care\ could suggest or obtain.
The little fellow's face, which was always exposed to view,
was carefully protected by a piece of wood bent a few inches
above and over it. Contented as Diogenes in his tub, the
babe would remain in its little prison for hours without a
whimper; part of the time asleep, and part of the time awake
looking around in its innocence with calm and tranquil
resignation. According to her convenience, the mother sus
pended her thus cradled child on her back, when walking,
or the saddle when riding; or stood it up against a neighbor
ing tree, if a pleasant day, that it might enjoy the fresh and
pure air, and exhilarating sunshine; or suspend it to the
projecting limb of a tree there to be rocked to sleep and
pleasant dreams by the forest breeze. As soon as it was
old enough to begin to crawl, it bade an informal adieu
to its former prison, but to be found perched upon its moth
er's back, wliere it seemed well contented in all its journeys
— long or short. It was truly astonishing with what appar
ent ease the Choctaw mother carried her child upon her back.
The child was placed high up between the shoulders of the
mother, and over it was thrown a large blanket, which was
drawn tightly at the front of the mother's neck, forming a
fold behind; in this the child was placed and safely carried,
with seemingly little inconvenience to either mother or child.
When the little chap had grown to such proportions as to be
no longer easily thus transported, he was fastened to the
saddle upon the back of a docile pony, which follower the
company at pleasure; though here and there stopping
momentarily to bite the tempting grass that grew along the
pathway, then briskly trotting up until it had again reached
its proper place in rank and file, indifferent to the jolting
experienced by the youthful rider tied upon its back, who,
ho\vever, seemed to regard it with stoical indifference.
When arrived at the age of four or five years, he was con
sidered as having passed through his fourth and last chrys
alis stage, and was then untied from the saddle and bid ride
for himself; and soon did the young horseman prove himself
a true scion of the parent tree, as a fearless and skillful
rider.

Though the Allosi afohka has long since passed away
with other ancient customs, still the Choctaw mother carries
her child upon her back as she of a century ago, and loves it
with the same fond-'and strong love; and though she did not,
nor does not, express it by any outward manifestations, yet

234 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

her love was and is real, perfect and constant; nor was she
ever known to trust her babe to a hired nurse. The love
for their children and untiring- devotion to their homes and
families, and their profound regard for the aged, were in
deed beautiful and touching traits in the characteristics of
the Choctaw women. In fact, the great respect and uniform
kindness paid by the Indians everywhere, and under all cir
cumstance, to the aged of their people, might justly bring
the blush of shame upon the face of many of the young twigs
of the professed enlightened white race. The Choctaw
women of years ago were a merry, light-hearted race, and
their constant laugh and incessant prattle formed a strange
contrast to the sad taciturnity of the present day. The
easily conjectured cause precludes the necessity of being
mentioned here.

Adair (p. 89) says; "the Choctaws, in an early day,
practiced the custom of flattening the heads of their infants
by- compression, and were first known to the whites by the
name of Flat Heads." Be that as it may, the custom had
long ceased to be practiced, when later known.

Wherever they went, distant or otherwise, many or
few, they always traveled in a straight line, one behind the
other. ( They needed no broad roads, nor had they any;
hence, they dispensed with the necessity of that expense,
road-working, so grudgingly bestowed by all white men.
Paths alone, plain and straight, then led the Choctaws where
now are broads roads and long high bridges, from village to
neighborhood, and from neighborhood to village, though many
iniles apart; and so open and free of logs, bushes, and all
fallen timber, was their country then, rendered thus by their
annual burning off of the woods, it was an easy matter to travel
in any direction and any distance, except through the vast
cane-brakes that covered all the bottom lands, which alone
could be passed by paths.

On hunting excursions, when a party moved their camp
to another point in the woods, whether far or near, they
invariably left a broken bush with the top leaning in the
direction they had gone, readily comprehended by the practi
ced eyeof the Choctaw hunter . They kept ona straight line to
where a turn was made, and whatever angle there taken, they
travelled it in a straight line, but left the -broken bush at the
turn indicating the direction they had taken. If a wandering-
hunter happens to stumble upon the late deserted camp and
desired to join its former occupants, the broken but silent
bush gave him the information as to the direction they had
gone. .He took it and traveled in a straight line perhaps for
several miles; when suddenly his ever watchful eye saw a

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 235

broken bush with its top leaning in another direction. He at
once interpreted its mystic language — "Here a turn was
made." He too made the turn indicated by the bush; and
thus traveled through the unbroken forest for miles, directed
alone by his silent but undeviating guide, which was sure to
lead him to his desired object.

All North American Indians, have always held their lands
in common; occupancy alone giving' the right of possession, a
custom peculiar to the North American Indians, and a living
proof of practical communism, as far as land is concerned, at
least. When a Choctaw erected a house upon a spot of
ground, and prepared a few acres for his corn, beans, potatoes,
etc., so long as he resided upon it as his home, it was exclus
ively his, and his rights were strictly respected by all; but if
he left it and moved to another place, then his claim to his
forsaken home was forfeited; and whoever saw proper could
go and take possession; nor was the second occupant expected
to remunerate the first for the labor he had done. However,
if No. 1, afterward should desire to return to his previous
home he could do so, provided no one had taken possession..
The present time, if one improves a place and leaves it, no one
has the right to take possession of the deserted place without,
permission of the one who improved it.

The famous little Choctaw pony was a veritable forest
camel to the Choctaw hunter, as the genuine animal is to the
sons of Ishmael. His unwearied patience, and his seemingly
untiring endurance of hardships and fatigue, were truly
astonishing — surpassing, according to his inches, every other
species of his race — and proving himself to be a worthy de
scendant of his ancient parent, the old Spanish war-horse,
introduced by the early Spanish explorers of the continent.
In all the Choctaws' expeditions, except those of war in
which they never used horses, the chubby little pony always,
was considered an indispensable adjunct, therefore always,
occupied a conspicuous place in the cavalcade. A packsaddle
which Choctaw ingenuity had invented expressly for the
benefit of the worthy little fellow's back, and finely adapted
in every particular for its purpose, was firmly fastened upon
his back, ready to receive the burden, which was generally
divided into three parts, each weighing from forty to fifty
pounds. Two of these were suspended across the saddle
by means of rawhide rope one-fourth of an inch in diameter
and of amazing strength, and the third securely fastened
upon the top, over all of which a bear or deer skin was-
spread, which protected it from rain. All things being
ready, the hunter, as leader and protector, took his position
in front, sometimes on foot and sometimes astride a pony of

236 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

such diminutive proportions, that justice and mercy would
naturally have suggested a reverse in the order of thing's,
and, with his trusty rifle in his hand, without which he never
went anywhere, took up the line of march,, and directly after
whom, in close- order, the loaded ponies followed in regular
succession one "behind the other, while the dutiful wife
and children brought up the rear in regular, successive
order, often with from three to five children on a single pony
—literally hiding the submissive little fellow from view.
Upon the neck of each pony a little bell was suspended,
whose tinkling chimes of various tones broke the monotony
of the desert air, and added cheerfulness to the novel scene.
Long accustomed to their duty, the faithful little pack-ponies
seldom gave any trouble, but in a straight line followed on
after their mastery sometimes, however, one here and there,
unable to withstand the temptation of the luxuriant grass
that offered itself so freely along the wayside, would make a
momentary stop to snatch a bite or two, but the shrill, dis
approving voice" of the wife in close proximitv behind, at once
reminded him of his dereliction of order and he would hastily
trot up to his position; and thus the little caravan, with the
silence broken only by the tinkling pony bells, moved on amid
the dense timber of their majestic forests, until the declin
ing sun gave warning of the near approaching night. Then
a halt was made, and the faithful little ponies, relieved of
their wearisome loads which they had borne throughout the
day with becoming and uncomplaining patience, were set
free that they might refresh themselves upon the grass and
cane — nature's bounties to the Indian — that grew and cover
ed the forests in wild abundance. Late next morning — (for
who ever knew an Indian, in the common affairs of life, to be
in a hurry or to value time? Time! He sees it not; he feels
it not; he regards it not. To him 'tis but a shadowy name—
a succession of breathings, measured forth by the change of
night and day by a shadow crossing the dial-path of life)
the rested and refreshed ponies were gathered in, and, each
having received his former load, again the tinkling chimes of
the pony bells alone disturbed the quiet of the then far ex
tending wilderness, announcing in monotonous tones the
onward march, as the day 'before, of the contented travelers;
and thus was the journey continued, day by day, until the
desired point was reached.

The Indian unlike the white man, often received a new
name from some trivial incident or some extraordinary ad
venture, which frequently occurred, especially in their wars.
Anciently the Choctaws and Muscogees were uncompromis
ing enemies, ever making raids into each others territories.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 237

At one time a Muscogee party invaded the Choctaw countryy
and made a sudden and unexpected attack upon a band of
Choctaw warriors. The Choctaws, though surprised, made
a brave resistance, and, after a short but furious light,, de
feated and put their assailants to flight. A vigorous pursuit
at once ensued in which a fleet young Choctaw warrior nam
ed Ahaikahno, (The Careless) had far in advance of his
comrades, killed a MuscOgee, and was in the act of scalping
him, when two Muscogee warriors turned and rushed toward
him with their utmost speed. The Choctaws in the rear,
seeing the danger of Ahaikahno, who was ignorant of his
two fast approaching foes, shouted to him with all the
strength of their voices — Chikke-bulilih chia! Chikke bulilih
chia! (pro. Chik-ke (Quickly) bul-elih (run) che-ah (3*011!).
Ahaikahno, hearing the shout and seeing his danger, was
not slow in heeding the advice. Ever afterwards Ahaikahno
bore the additional name Chikke Bulilih Chia. Both parties
lost many warriors in this short but bloody fight, and the
little mound erected by the Choctaws over the common grave
of their slain warriors was still to be seen down to the \-ear
of the Choctaw migration west, in 1831-?2.

Nearly every river, creek, lake, rock, hill and vale, was
endeared to them, by a name given to it from some peculiar-'
ity. some incident or adventure of the past, that was signifi
cant of the same; and in which were embodied the remem
brance of the heroic achievements of a long" line of ances
try; some in nature's rocks, mountains, hills, dells, woods,
and waters; while others took substantial form in the im
pressive memorials reared by loving hearts and willing nands
in the form of mounds over their dead. Many of those names
were beautifully significant; but alas, how corrupted b\T the
whites, to that extent indeed, that not even one has retained
its original purity. Think you, reader, it was an easy matter
for the Choctaws, with such a country* as the\r then posses^
sed, endeared to them by ten thousand times ten thousand
ties as strong as were ever interwoven around- the human
heart, to cut loose from this their ancient home, and set sail
on an unknown sea foij distant ports in an unknown land, ''and
under the pilotage of those pretended friends, who they
bad found could not be trusted.

Of all the wild animals of the cane-brake, the wild boar
truly merited the name of being the- most dangerous, when
brought to bay, the panther or bear not excepted, and in at
tacking him, coolness and a steady nerve were as necessary
as perfect marksmanship. In this kind of sport a novice would
always find it the better part of valor to keep in mind that
"distance lends enchantment to the view" for ke seldom

238 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

made a charge without leaving- his mark, since that charge
I can attest by frequent observation, was no child's play. One
stroke with his long, keen tusks, was all he wanted to kill an
offending dog, or even disembowel a horse; and woe to the
hunter that carelessly or with foolhardiness approached too
near; if he failed to make a dead-shot, his life was the forfeit;
for with the rush of a whirlwind, and the agility of a cat, he
sprang from his lair, and more sure and fatal was his stroke
as he passed, than the stroke of a dagger in the hands of an
enraged man. An effectual shot was only made by shooting
him through the brain, as his shoulders were protected by
a massive shield extending from his short neck two-thirds of
the way to the hips, and impervious even by a ball shot from
-the rifle of that day; his enormous head, set of by ears about
the size of a man's' hand, standing straight up, and his pow
erful jaws, armed with four fearful tusks, two short stubby
ones protruding from the upper and two long, dagger-like
ones from the lower lips, with a backward curve, combined
with his strength and activity, rendered him a formidable
foe, and made him truly the monarch of the Mississippi cane-
brake 70 years ago. From his short legs and sluggish' ap
pearance, when secretly seen from a distance moving about
at his leisure, one would have supposed him slow in point of
speed; but such was not the case. For as soon as you gave
him a good cause to bestir himself, he did it to such a good
purpose that it was hard for a common horse to escape his
pursuit for a short distance, or to overtake him in his flight.
But of the two contingencies the latter, so far as the hunter
was concerned, was immeasurably the safer; since his temper
was as short as his legs, and very little indeed sufficed his
boarship's philosophy to constitute sufficient provocation, to
make a sudden whirl, present and about face, and instantly
make a furious charge; then, if the horseman was not as
quick to make the turn, there was a collision, always to the
great advantage of the boar.

To intrude upon his retreat when at bay, even though
no malicious propensities had been proven against the tres
passer, was madness; for he charged the intruder without
hesitation and with positively such terrific impetuosity that
proved there was no reservation about his conduct nor
opportunity intended to be given to the incautious visitor for
making any mistake as to his intentions; and he then and
there learned to his entire satisfaction that, if he intended to
have apologized to his boarship, it would be policy to do so in
writing at some future day; as, at that moment, it was de
cidedly the best to get out of the way nor seek leisure for
explanation of the intrusion, since the monster was coming

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

•*^

down upon him, with now and then a snort, that emphatically
said, "Out you go," as intelligibly as ever snorts said any
thing-, yet singularly expressive, unmistakably meaning
prompt ejection from his premises; and though his
progeny were styled the "racers, razor backs, subsoilers,
jumpers, and rail splitters," by the early white settlers, yet,
with his fleetness, agility, strength and savage snout armed
.with those terrible tusks — veritable lancets indeed — which in
many instances grew to incredible dimensions both in size
and length — his majesty was justly styled the undisputed
monarch of the Mississippi cane-brakes. His courage was
indeed fearless and defiant, and with a reckless ferocity that
no sane hunter had the nerve to resolutely receive. Oft he
waited not for presumptuous provocation, but waged war
at once on hunter and dogs as soon as trespassing on his
domains, whom he calmly faced with a defiant front that
indicated a business propensity not to be safely misjudged,
as he slowly turned from side to side seemingly to scan the
immediate surroundings and take in the situation; but when
he set himself to going after man or dog, he displayed an
agility and address which those who have once experienced
it pronounced amazing, nor desires ever again to test his
boarship's peculiarities by personal experience. He often
wandered companionless, then he became more morose and
malignant, and more dangerous to intrude upon. One of
this character, for reasons best known to himself, ventured
under the cover of a dark night, to sleep wTith the tame hogs
belonging to the missionary station, Hebron, over which Mr.
Calvin Cushmaii had jurisdiction, soon after the exodus of
the Choctaws. At that early day, hounds were a protective
necessity against the carnivorous wrild animals that numer
ously abounded in the forests, though Mr. Calvin Cushman
was never known to fire a gun at a wild animal of any kind,
or to go into the woods as a hunter, but left that wholly to
others, among whom his three sons were generally found.
The visitor had overslept himself, or, at least, was a little
dilatory the next morning in starting for his home in the
cane-brake, and thus was discovered about daybreak, 'by one
of the hounds between whom and his boarship uncompromis
ing hostility existed. At once the hound gave notice to his
companions in the yard of the presence of their hated and
dreaded enemy by loud and vociferous barking, to which the
whole pack, gave immediate response by rushing headlong
over the yard fence, and in full cry hastened to the call of
their fellow. At once they rushed for the wild intruder,
who, taking in the surroundings, broke at once for his citadel
in the. swamp two miles away across an intervening forest

240- HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

•*''"

with 110 undergrowth in which to shelter himself in case of
being- overtaken by his pursuing- foes. My brother and I,
knowing- from the" wild outcry of the hounds that they had
discovered some wild animal of merit, seized our rifles, rushed
to the barn, saddled our. hunting' horses and mounted; then
listened a moment to ascertain the bearings of the hounds
whose cry was now faintly heard in the distance, but gave
evidence that the object of their pursuit was no small matter.
At once wre started at full speed through the open forest, and,
after running- a mile or more, stopped to listen, when we
ascertained that they had overtaken the night intruder,
whatever he was, and brought him to bay, but still nearly a
mile distant. Ag'ain we put our horses at full speed, and
thus continued until we had reached the top of a high ridge,
where came into full view, about three hundred yards distant,
the hounds encircling a hug'e wild boar. For a minute we-
silently stood and gazed upon the exciting scene.

The hounds (eight in number) knowing, from sad ex
perience, the characteristics of their foe. were running this
way and that around the old monarch of the canebrake, but
observing* the judicious caution to keep twenty or thirty feet
distant from him. who defiantly stood in the- centre of
the circle and boldly solicited closer quarters. No under
growth obstructed our view, and the whole play was being
enacted before us. Now a hound would make a dash at his
rear only to be^net by the about face of the agile boar, which
caused the hound to also make an about face followed by a
hasty retreat, then one would succeed in giving him a snap
in the rear, which caused the boar, not only to make a quick
turn, but also to make a rush for a few paces after the now
retreating dog-, but to be again pinched in the rear by some
one of his more venturesome assailants. Finally one made a
dash at the rear of the boar with high expectations of secur
ing a good bite; but poor Pete was not quick enough in his
whirl, for the boar, in his sweep, struck him with his curv
ing- tusks upon the thigh making art> ugly wound three or
four inches in length and to the bone. . Pete at once acknowl
edged his defeat by a shrill cry and immediate retreat to the
rear. Thinking it time to take a hand in/ the fray, wre dis
mounted, and leaving our horses concealed, cautiously ad
vanced to the scene of action, but taking care not to let his
boarship learn of our proximity. But not much danger of
that, as his attention was wholly engaged with the still tor
menting dogs. When we had approached within a hundred
yards, we halted behind a large tree and formed our plan of
attack, as we silently peeped from our hiding place and view
ed the scene. The boar was still ignorant of our presence;

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 241

but the hounds had evidently suspected our. presence some
where, by frequently looking back and sniffing the air, and
then barking more vigorously at the boar and making bolder
and more frequent attacks upon his rear.

He was truly a magnificent specimen of his race/ of a
sandy color, full grown, and in fine condition. His huge
head" was adorned with enormous, curving tusks with one
sweep of which he could cut a man, dog or horse into
threads. His little red eyes, nearly covered with shaggy
hair, now glowed like coals of fire, beneath a pair of ears
about the size of a man's hand which stood perfectly erect;
his tail, though curled once at his body, nearly touched the
ground with its long shaggy hairs; his cavernous mouth was
white with foam — proof tha't he was mad all over; his bristles
about four inches long, extended from his ears to his tail,
and stood up erect and stiff, while every hair upon his body
seemingly quivered with rage; the massive sinews of his
great chest stood out like small ropes as he turned from side
to side, exposing also to view the outlines of the almost im
pervious shield that enveloped his shoulders. He was truly
an incarnation of immense strength, activity, courage, and
brutal ferocity.

Our curiosity being satisfied 'in viewing his^dimensions
and appearance, it was resolved -that my brother, who was
the more courageous and the better marksman, should crawl
to a large tree that stood exactly between us and the boar,
which would bring him within fifty or sixty yards of his boar-
ship, and also, the sure range of his rifle, while I was to keep
my position as a rear guard in case of a compulsory retreat.
By good fortune he gained the tree unobserved by hound or
boar; then arose to his feet and brought his rifle to his shoul=
der, with the barrel resting against the right si<le of the tree,
thus being enabled to keep his body wholly concealed. Soon
I saw the boar turn his head exactly toward the tree and in
stantly the crack of the rifle mingled with the baying of the
hounds, and the fierce brute pitched over on his nose to be
instantly covered with exultant dogs who bit and snapped
their fallen foe. We hurried up, only to see a convulsive shiver
run through the huge mass of flesh and bone, and the fierce
glare of the eye as it died out slowly, like a coal fading in the
sunlight as t|j£ white ashes cover it. The vi;ifle ball had ac
complished its mission of death.

In conclusion, I will but add: If those, who to-day talk
about dangerous game, would like to enjoy a rough and tum
ble encounter, I would, could I recall the last seventy years,
recommend to them a wild boar of the Mississippi cane-

242 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

breaks, with strong- testimonials; nor would they have far to
go, at that day, to find him.

O-ka-it-tib-ih-ha -county, Mississippi, as well as its
sister counties, has been the scene of many hard struggles
between the contending warriors of the different tribes,
who inhabited the noble old state in years of the long past;
not only from the statements and traditions of the Choctaws,
who were among the last' of the Indian race whose council-
iires lit up her forests, and whose hoyopatassuha died away
upon her hills, but also from the numerous fortifications and
intrenchments, that were plainly visible, ere the ploughshare
had upturned her virgin soil, and her native- forests still
stood in their primitive beauty and grandeur. From those
rude fortifications, plainly identified many years after the
advent of the missionaries, strong positions were evidently
held by each contending party; yet they seemed to have
been constructed with no regard to mathematical skill, but
rather as circumstances demanded or would admit. Such
at least were the intrenchments enclosing the Shakchi
Humma old fort; and the mail}* evidences, such as rusted
tomahawks, arrow-heads, human bones, teeth and fragments
of skulls that were continually being ploughed up for
many years, proved the hard contested fight of the Shak
chi Hummas and the allied Choctaws and Chickasaws; and
that the brave but greatly' out-numbered Shakchi Hummas
had disputed every inch of the ground, and had only yielded
to the superior numbers of the combined Choctaws and
Chickasaw warriors. The ancient Choctaws, as well as all
other Indians, did not confine their battles to forts and in
trenchments, but fought as circumstances offered, oftener
in small bodies than in large. Hence, they never drew out
their forces in open field, but fought from behind trees,
stumps and logs; each seeking every possible advantage of
his enemy, regarding- all advantages gained as wholly at
tributable to superior skill; all advantages lost, to want
of it.

According to the statements made by the Choctaws to
Mr. Calvin Cushman, when first established among them
as a missionary, nearly eighty years ago, the Shakchi
Hummas, a warlike and very overbearing tribe of Indians,
were wholly exterminated by the combined forces of the
Choctaws and Chickasaws about the year 1721. ^»

I was personally acquainted with a remarkable old Choc-
taw warrior, by the name of Ish-iah-hin-la, (you liable to go)
who claimed to have fought through the Shakchi Humma
war. He was said to be the last surviving Choctaw warrior
of that memorable conflict, and died in 1828 at the advanced

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 243

-age of 107 years, so he claimed to be. Indeed the old war
rior's white locks, wrinkled face, shriveled and decrepit
body, indicated life's journey to have reached that point;
and, as longevity was frequent at that time (as even to-day)
among the Indians, many then living whose ages reached
eighty and ninety years. I did not doubt the old man's state
ment. He took great delight in relating many incidents of
that war and oft amused my boyish fancy in telling many
thrilling scenes in which he participated. This war had its
•origin from the overbearing disposition of the Shakchi Hum-
mail, and the frequent murders committed by their war par
ties upon the Choctaws and Chickasaws. The account, as
related by the Choctaws to the missionaries, is in substance,
about as follows: Many years after the Choctaws and
•Chickasaws had established themselves east of the Missis
sippi river, a Choc taw chief, named Shakchi Hum ma (Craw
fish Red), recrossed the Mississippi river, with his family
and a large number of his adherents, and established a col
ony (under the name of their chief, Shakchi Hum ma) in,
now the state of Arkansas,

In the course of years this colony became greatly en
larged by constant accessions; and, with increasing numbers
and strength, also became insolent and overbearing* to that
extent that a war arose between them and another tribe, in
which they were defeated and driven back over the Missis
sippi "to their former country. After being established
there, (not as Choctaws but as Shakchi Hummas, disregard
ing their ancient kindred ties) they adopted an arrogant and
aggressive policy towards both the Choctaws and Chicka
saws, who, provoked beyond longer endurance, formed a
secret alliance in an exterminating war against the Shakchi
Hummas.

Then followed a three years war of extermination (fa
mous in Choctaw tradition) culminating at the battle of Oski
Hlopah and blotting out the Shakchi Humma nation. The
Choctaws and Chickasaws took the war path together, re
solving to exterminate their insolent enemies or be exter
minated themselves. At this juncture, several large parties
of Shakchi Hummah hunters were camped on Noxubee
creek, as much game had congregated there owing to the
destruction of the range in many parts of the country by the
accidental fall fires. The Choctaws, being aware of the lo
cality of the Shakchi Humma hunters, opened the war by
making an unexpected attack upon them and slew the greater
part, throwing their dead bodies into the creek which caused
;in awful stench, which gave the name Nahshobili to the
creek, and .opened hostilities in good earnest between the

244 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Choctaws and Ghickasaws on one side and the Shakchf
Hummas on the other.

Extermination being th ewar-cry adopted by the con
testants, both parties fought with desperation. But, un
expectedly as the two allied tribes had rushed upon their
unsuspecting- and unprepared enemies (thus in the outset
gaining great advantage) yet the Shakchi Hummas soon
rallied from their discomfiture caused by their surprise; and
then commenced one of those fierce and bloody conflicts, so
oft engaged in by the Red Men in the years of the hoWy
past, but known only to themselves. In union there is strength,
is an old but true adage; and thus it proved to the Choctaws
and Chickasaws. Though fortune for a while appeared to
waver, vacillating1 from the one side to the other and seeming"
at a loss on whom to bestow her smiles, but finally looked
with favor upon the two allied tribes. The Shakchi ifummas,
after many reverses and great losses, finally sought to pro
tract the strong- struggle by taking- refuge in their intrenched
villages. But one after another of these fell into the hands of
the victorious Choctaws and Chickasaws, who now had
become fearless by their success, and, e're the third year of
the desperate conflict had closed, every village had been
taken, and destroyed, and the majority of the inhabitants
slain. The few who escaped united their strength and finally
took their last stand at a point now known as Ly oil's bluff on
Oski Hlopah (Cane stripped) river known now as Trimcane,
about nine miles northeast of Starkville, Mississippi, hope
less, yet determined to fight to the death. Sheltered by a
few logs and banks of earth, the last of that once powerful
and arrogant tribe, now f ought as only men in despair can
and do fight, sending many of their enemies to precede them
to the hunting grounds in the great beyond. How true it is,
that man is a being, when placed in danger and devoid of
hope — that oasis. amid the arid desert of life — who is to be
dreaded! When hope has fled, despair usurps its place; and
none despair till they behold death staring them in the face;
dnd .when life, with all its beautiful shades and colors, is
bleached with the bitterness of death, 'tis then man becomes
desperate; and even the most timid have then accomplished
feats of daring seemingly incredible. Such was the forlorn
hope cooped up in that little fort, if fort it might be called.
Surrounded on all sides without the possibility of escape,
and sheltered only by a few logs and piles of dirt; yet they
baffled all attempts of their enemies to dislodge them.

Like tigers at bay, they fought day and night, though
hour by hour thinned in numbers, till at last but few re
mained; yet that handful yielded not, nor asked for quarter.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 245

sing-ing their death song-, and ever and anon hurling
back their defiant war-whoops, they continued to fight, kill
ing everyone who attempted to scale their little breast-work
of logs and* 'earth. For many days did the warriors of that
log and mud 'fort successfully hold out, bravely driving back
their assailants in every charge. At length, the Choctaws
and Chickasaws, maddened at the obstinate resistance of the
now desperate Shakchi Hummas, and the continued falling
here and there of 'their own warriors, with a, mighty rush
broke over the feebly defended walls of logs and earth, but
to be met by the little squad'of still defiant Shakchi Hum
mas, who received them with the last shout of their still defi
ant war-whoop. Then, for a few moments, was heard the
clashing and ringing of the tomahawks as the busy scene of
death went on; each Shakchi Humma warrior fighting, not
for life or for glory, but in mad despair — seeking to kill ere
he was killed/ But soon the last death-dealing- blow was
struck that blotted out forever the Shakchi Humma Nation.
Only one of the whole tribe was left, and that one was a
young girl about sixteen or eighteen years of ag*e, who was
spared on account of her wonderful beauty. She was adopt
ed by the Choctaws, and lived to be nearly or quite a hun
dred years old, and was living some years after the advent
of the missionaries among them. Mr. H. Peden, who lived
fourteen miles from Hebron, the home of Mr. Calvin Cush-
man, stated that Mr. P. P. Pitchlynn, who had often spoken
to him of this old Shakchi Humma captive, one day pointed-
her out to him at a religious meeting of the Choctaws. Mr.
Peden stated that she was the oldest looking human being
that he had ever seen, and from her appearance, he judged
her to be over a century old. She died a few years before
the venerable old warrior, Stahenka; but lived to hear the
tidings of the Cross preached to her race, though the only
survivor of her own tribe, exterminated in the bright morn
of her youthful but eventful life. Alas, the single combats
of the heroes of history or fable may amusev the fancy and
engag'e the admiration; the skillful evolutions of war may
inform the mind; but in the uniform and terrible picture of
a general assault, all is blood, horror and desolation; nor shall
I further attempt to delineate, at the distance of nearly two
centuries, a scene at which the actors themselves were in
capable of forming any just or adequate idea. But such is
the only history of the Shakchi Hummas whose blood still
runs in the veins of a few Choctaws — descendants of the girl
saved at the tragic destruction of her tribe — one of whom
.became a chief of the Choctaws and died in 1884 at his home

246 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

a few miles east of Atoka, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory..
His name is Coleman Cole. , % .

The Choctaws, like all of 'their race, had no'written. laws,
and their government rested alone on custom and usage,
growing- out of their possessions and their wants ; yet was
conducted so harmoniously by the influence of their native
genius and experience, that 'one would hardly believe
that human society could be maintained with so
little artifice. As they had no money, their traffic con
sisted alone in mutual exchang-e of all commodities ; as
there was no employment of others for hire, there
were no contracts, hence judges and lawyers, sheriffs
and jails were unknown among them. There were no beg
gars, no wandering tramps, no orphan children unprovided
for in their country, and deformity was almost unknown,
proving that nature in the wild forest of the wilderness is
true to her type. Their chief had no crown, 110 sceptre, no
body guards, no outward symbols of authority, nor power to
give validity to their commands, but sustained their author
ity alone upon the good opinion of their tribe. No Choctaw
ever worshipped his fellow man, or submitted his will to the
humiliating subordinations of another, but with that senti
ment of devotion that passed bevorid the region of humanity,
and brought him in direct contact with nature and the imag
inary beings by whom it was controlled, which he divined but
could not fathom; to these, and these alone, he paid his hom
age, invoking their protection in war and their aid in the
chase.

The ancient Choctaws believed, and those of the present
day believe, and I was informed bv Governor Basil LeFlore,.
in 1884, isince deceased) that there is an appointed time for
every one to die; hence suicide appeared to them, as an act
of the meanest cowardice. Though thev regarded it as a
sacrilege to mention the names of their dead, still they spoke
of their own approaching death with calmness and tran-
quility. No people on earth paid more respect to their dead,
than the Choctaws did and still do; or preserved with more
affectionate veneration the graves of their ancestors. They
were to them as holy relics, the only pledges of their history;
hence, accursed was he who shouldfdespoil the dead. They
had but a vague idea of future rewards and punishments.
To them a future life was a free gift of the GreatjSpirit, and
the portals of the happy hunting grounds would be opened
to them, in accordance as their life had been meritorious as
a brave warrior. They were utterly ignorant of the idea of
a general resurrection, and it was difficult for them to be in
duced to believe that the body would again be raised up.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 247

But to-day finds the Choctaws advanced in knowledge and
improvement, which has produced a revolution in their moral
and intellectual condition and in the current of their thoughts
and ideas. Though seemingly slow to many has been their
progress, yet not more so than other nations. For it must
be remembered, that to-day there are many nations on the
eastern continent, where a knowledge of letters has been
known for centuries, and whose intellectual advantages have
been much superior to that of the North American Indians,
who have not yet reached that moral and intellectual culture
that many tribes of the Indians have. It required over 2000,
years for us to rise from a state of savage barbarity to our
present state of advancement, though, 'tis true they have
had, to a small extent, the advantages of pur civilization; but
when we take into consideration the great disadvantages
which even the five civilized tribes have labored under and
the many oppositions they have had to encounter from first
to last, in their commendable efforts to moral and intellectual
improvement, (though enjoying the advantages of the teach
ings of the faithful and noble missionary for half a century)
from the corrupting influences and pernicious examples of
the base white men who have ever cursed their country, even
as fated Egypt of old was cursed by the visitations of the
locusts, frogs and lice, we have just and good reasons to be
surprised that they have made the progress they have.

As a proof of the Indian's love of country and the scenes
of his childhood, so cruelly denied him by his oppressors, I
will state that a few years after 'they had moved west, a few
Choctaw warriors, seemingly unable to resist the desire of
once more looking upon the remembered scenes of the un-
forgotteii past, returned to the homes of their youth; for
a few weeks they lingered around, the very .personification
of hopeless woe, with a peculiar something in their manner
and appearance, which seemed to speak their thoughts as
absently following a long dream that was leading them to
the extreme limits of their once interminable fatherland.
But their souls could not brook the change, or the ways of
the pale-face. They gazed awhile, as strangers in a strange
land, then turned in silence and sorrow from the loved vision
they never would enjoy or look upon again, but which they
never would forget, and once more directed their steps to
ward the setting sun and were seen no more. But nothing
strange in this; for who does not delight, even in after years,
to return to the well remembered walks of early life! the
touch of the long vanished hands, and the echo of the voices,
that are hushed, all seem to return, reminding us in touch
ing accents of unutterable pathos, of the days that are no

248 HISTORt OF THE INDIANS.

more! again are we united with the days of childhood, call
ing up by-gone joys. Truly, what a hallowing glory invests
our past, beckoning us back to the haunts of boyhood's days!
again the songs we sang sweep o'er the harp of memory in
tones of sweetest melody! again the faces that early weht
down to the tomb, that cheerless habitation of the dead,
smile on us with unchanging love and tenderness. The
past! To every heart, what a fairy land. Who would not
keep the memory of those days unsullied, unalloyed from
those that raise a sadness in the soul! Ah! as a token from
some lost loved one, whose name is only spoken within the
secrets of the heart, would I cherish and keep them with
'memories that never die.

The Indians have ever been termed a nomadic race, and
as such have been represented by all who have written about
them. There certainly never has a greater error been pro
mulgated about any people. I refer to the southern Indians
who formerly lived east of the Mississippi river. How far
the Indians of the western plains may merit the title, I
will not attempt to judge, being but little acquainted with
their habits and customs, ancient or modern. But I have no
fears in saying that no people merited less the appellation,
nomadic, than those who formerly dwelt east of the Missis
sippi river. Webster, the standard authority, gives the defi
nition of nomadic -as signifying, "Moving from place to
place," and how that word could in any way justly be ap
plied to the Choctaw', Chickasaw and Muscogee Indians, who
were never known to move in the knowledge of the whites,
'until moved by them from their ancient domains to their
present location, is a difficult matter to comprehend. In
15^0, De Soto found them in the very spot from which the
government moved them in 1832, 1836, and 1840. In 1623,
the early settlers of Virginia found them exactly where De
Soto had left them. When the French established them
selves in Mobile, Alabama, they found them still where the
Viginia settlers had found them. In 1735, the Carolina
traders found them exactly where De Soto, the Virginians
and the French had found them. In 1744, Adair found them
still where De Soto, the Virginians, the French, and the
Carolina traders, had found them, and lived among the
Chickasaws thirty years. In 1771, Roman still found them
at the very place where De Soto, the Virginians, the French,
the Carolina traders and Adair, had found them; and states,
in his travels through the Choctaw Nation, he passed
through seventy of their towns. In 1815, the missionaries
still found them exactly where De Soto, the Virginians, the
French, the Carolinian traders, Adair, d.nd Roman had found

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 249

-them. In 1832, the United States Government found them
still where De Soto, the Virginians, the French, the Caro
lina traders, Adair, Roman, and the missionaries had found
them, and moved them to their present place of abode in
1832; and 1899, A. D. finds them just where the government
put them sixty-seven years ago. So they have "moved from
place to place/' once in 359 years, and then moved by the
force of arbitrary power, they are called nomadic.
Of the Indians it may be truly said:
t

"But on the natives of that land misused,

Not long the silence of amazement hung,
Nor brooked they long their friendly faith abused;
For with a common shriek, the general tongue
Exclaimed, 'to arms !' and fast to arms they sprung."

They were truly men of the past, as well as men of the
woods, yet noble and true, glorying in their ancestors, and
living in their deeds by reverencing what they had handed
clown to them.

The Choctaws, from their earliest history, have ever
maintained their independence, and their love of country,
amounting to almost idolatry, which cannot be described by
words; and, in defending it, they utterly despised danger
and mocked at fear.

Having no alphabet nor written language, their know
ledge was conveyed to the eye by rude imitation. In the
pictures of various animals which had been drawn on s-mooth
substance, a piece of bark, or tree, there he recognized a
symbol of his tribe; and in these various figures, which he'
saw sketched here and there, he re,ad messages from his
friends. The rudest painting, though silent and unintelligi
ble to the white man, told its tale to the Choctaws. He
abhorred restraint of any kind, while liberty, free and un
restrained, was the ruling passion of his soul; the natural
and unrestrained propensities, of his wild nature were his
system of morals, to which he firmly adhered and tenaciously
followed. They had no calendar, but reckoned time thus:
The months, by the full or crescents moons; the years by
the killing of the vegetation by the wintry frosts. Thus, for
two years ago the Choc taw would say: Hushuk (grass) illi
-(dead) tuklo (twice); literally, grass killed twice, or, more
properly, two killings of the grass ago. The sun was called
Nittak hushi — the Day-sun; and the moon, Neuak hushi,
\he Night-sun and sometimes, Tekchi hushi — the Wife
•of the sun. Their almanac was kept by the flight of
the fowls of the air; whose coming and going announced to
Ihem the progress of the advancing and departing

250 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

seasons. Thus the fowls of the air announced to the then
blessed and happy Choctaw the progress of the seasons,
while the beasts. "of the field gave to him warning- of the
gathering and approaching storm, and the sun marked to
him the hour of the day; and so the changes of time were
noted, not by figures, but by days, sleeps, suns and moons-
signs that spoke the beauty and poetry of nature. If a shorter
time than a day was required to be indicated two parallel
lines were drawn on the ground, a certain distance apart,
then pointing to the sun he would say: "It is as long as it
would take the sun to move from there to there." The time
indicated by the moon was from its full to the next; that of
the year, from winter to winter again, or from summer to
summer. To keep appointments, a bundle of sticks contain
ing the exact number of sticks as there were days from the
day of appointment to the appointed, was kept; and every
morning one was taken out and thrown away, the last stick
announced the arrival of the appointed. This bundle of
twigs was called Fuli (sticks) kauah (broken) broken sticks.

The abundant game of his magnificent and wide extended
forests, which he never killed in wanton sport, no more than
a white man would kill his cattle, but only as his necessities
demanded, together with the fish of his beautiful streams,
his fields of corn, potatoes, beans, with that of the inexhaus
tible supplies of spring and summer berries of fine variety
and flavor, and winter nuts, all united to 'consummate his
earthly bliss in rendering him a successful huntsman,
a good fisherman, and cheerful tiller of the ground.
The Choctaws have long been known to excel all the North
American Indians in agriculture, subsisting to a considerable
extent on the produce of their fields. In mental capacity the
Choctaws, as a race of people, both ancient and modern, were
and are not inferior to the whites; and their' domestic life,
as I know them seventy years ago, would sustain in many
respects, a fair comparison with average civilized white com
munities. Their perspective faculties were truly wonder
ful; and the Choctaws of to-day, to whom the advantages of
an education have been extended, have given indisputable
evidence of as great capacity for a high order of education
as any people on earth, I care not of what nationality.

There were no degrees of society among them, no dif
ference in social gatherings; all felt themselves equal, of the
same standing and on the same terms of social equality.
And it is the same to day. They had no sur-names,yet their
names were peculiar, and most always significant, express
ive of some particular action or incident; even as the names
given to their hills, rivers, creeks, towns and villages. As-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 251

those of ancient, classic fame in the eastern world, so to the
superstitious mind of the Choctaw of the western world,
caused him also to regard the sudden appearance of certain
birds and their chirping's and twittering's, the howl of the
wolf and thelonely hootof the owl, as omens of evil, whileothers,
asomensof good; the spiritual significance of which, however,
he interpreted according to the dictation of his own judg
ment, instead of that of an augur differing in this particular
from his ancient brothers of Rome and Greece; yet like them
he undertook no important enterprise without first consult
ing his trusted signs, whether auspicious or otherwise. If
the former, he hesitated not its undertaking; if the latter, no
inducement could be offered that would prevail upon him to*
undertake it; but he returned to his cabin and there re
mained for favorable omens.

But how far mav be found a more just cause for admi
ration of the religious superstitions of the ancient Romans
and Grecians than that of the North American Indians, it is
difficult to see, since the Indians, alike with them, acknowl
edged, everywhere in nature, the presence of invisible be
ings; and it 'was the firm belief that his interests were under
the special care of the Great and Good Spirit that the Choc-
taw warrior went upon the war-path, and the hunter sought
the solitudes of his native forests in search of his game; and
that his career in life was marked out for him by a decree
that could not be altered. True, he was free to act, but the
consequences of those actions were fixed beforehand; his
daily food, life, joys, all, everything, were acknowledged as
coming from the Great Spirit, who knew all things and im
parted his wisdom to man; rewarded good deeds and pun
ished crimes; implanted unwritten laws of right and wrong
on the human heart, and unfolded to him coming events-
through dreams. The mystery of nature had its influence
upon the untutored minds of all Indians, as well as its phe
nomena upon his senses; which, to them, were represented
by the inferior spirits that surround the Great Spirit, who
was the 'all-controlling deity; and to Him they all turned in
gratitude for blessings, and for aid in all the affairs of life.
Surely, it is the part of humanity in us, who have lived under
a higher dispensation, in tracing the deep influences that
the mythology of this strange, wonderful and peculiar peo
ple had over them ;> to admire rather than condemn without
admitting the many extenuating circumstances. And
though the rites and ceremonies of the Indians, by which
they expressed their belief in their dependence on the Great
Spirit, was made in offerings of corn, bread, fruits, etc, in
stead of the sacrifices of animals; and sought omens in the

252 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

actions of living- animals, instead of an augury in the entrails
of dead animals; yet the sincere feelings of piety, of grati
tude and dependence, which gave origin to those offerings,
gave origin also to that universal habit of self-examination
. and secret prayer to the great Spirit, so characteristic of the
Indian race. They believed that the Great Spirit communi
cated his will to man in dreams, in thunder and lightning,
eclipses, meteors, comets, in all the prodigies of nature, and
the thousands of unexpected' incidents that occur to man.
Could it be otherwise expected from those who walked by
the light of nature alone? And though few assumed to have
attained the power of revealing the import of these signs and
wonders, yet many sought the coveted prize but found it not,
therefore, became self-constituted prophets, but remained
silent as to the character and functions of the spirits with
whom thev held their mysterious intercourse, thus leaving
little foundation by which to identify their mythology. But
that they derived their religious beliefs from the common
seed with which man first started, there can be no doubt;
but ere it had developed to any extent they strayed from the
parent stock, and it assumed different aspects under differ-
en circumstances, during the long period of isolation that en
sued. Still, we find existing everywhere among mankind
the same sensitiveness to the phenomena of nature, and the
same readiness and power of imagining invisible beings as
the cause of these phenomena.

The tendency of the Indian mind was thoroughly prac
tical, stern and unbending, it was not filled with images of
poetry nor high strung* conceptions of fancy. He struggled
for what was immediate, the war path, the chase and council
life; but when not engaged therein, -the life of the national
games, under the head of social amusements, filled up the
measure of his days — the ball plav, horse-race, foot-race,
jumping and wrestling — to them as honorable as the gym
nastic exercises of the eastern nations of antiquity; enduring
heat and cold, suffering" the pang-s of hunger and thirst, fa
tigue and sleeplessness. The object of the Indian boy also,
was to gain all the experience possible in all manly exercises,
therefore at an early age he went in search of adventures.
Their tribal council consisted of the best, wisest and most
worthy of the tribe. A fact from which we might draw
many useful lessons. In its meetings, the most important
topics of their country were the subjects of their delibera
tions; nor was the question ever asked in regard to any new
question presented before that body, "If there was any money
in it?" the good of their common country was the only thing
•discussed or even thought of. It was a body, which, in point

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 253

of true dignity, if not of wisdom, has seldom been equalled
and never surpassed; and which was regarded the supreme
power of the tribal commonwealth. They had but few laws,
but the few were rigidly enforced.

There were many natural orators among- the ancient
Choctaws when living1 in undisturbed prosperity amTMiappi-
ness east of the Mississippi river. Their orations were
very concise, animating and abounding in many beautiful meta
phors; and who, had they possessed the embellishments of a
refined education, would have compared well with any race
of mankind that ever existed. v

The Choctaws, like all their race, deliberated with great
dignity and solemnity on national affairs; and jn all their
assemblies, both, national and social, everything- was carried
on in the best order and unassumed decorum. Their treaties
were ratified by smoking- the pipe of peace — an emblem
respected, honored, and held sacred ^by all Indians every
where. As with all their race, so war was, in the estimation
of the ancient- Choctaws, the most patriotic avocation in which
a man could engage; they seldom began a war with another
tribe, but rather waited for an attack, then no braver or more
resolute warriors ever went upon the war-path. The open
ing of hostilities was alwas preceded by the famous Hoyopa-
hihla, War-dance. Night was the chosen time for engaging- in
that time-honored ceremony; and as soon as evening- began
to spreadher dark mantle o'er their forests, ahuge pile of dry
logs and brush previously prepared was set on fire, whose'
glaring and crackling flames intermingling- with their hoyopa-
taloah (war-songs) and soul-stirring hoyopa-tassuhah (war-
hoops) presented a scene as wild and romantic as can possi
bly be imagined.

The manly forms of the dusky warriors with their paint
ed faces illuminated with the wildest excitement; the huge
fire blazing and crackling in the centre of the Wide extended
circle of excited dancers, which, now and then, a kick from a
dancing warrior, caused to send the flames and sparks
hig-h up among- the wide extended branches of the mighty
forest trees that stood around; the stern visages of the old
warriors, whom age and decrepitude had long since placed
upon the retired list from further duty upon the war-path or
in the chase, sitting- around in little groups where the light
of the burning log-heap disputed precedency with the gloom
of night,, calm and silent spectators of the weird scene in
which they could no lorijger participate, but which awakened
thrilling- memories of the past; the Goddess Minerva's fav
orite birds, allured from their dark abode?} in the forest by
the glaring light, flitted here and there overhead through

254 HISTORY OF THE mDIANS.

the extended branches of the overshadowing- oaks, and anon
joined in \vith their voices, to which in wild response, the
distant howl of a pack of roving- wolves filled up the meas
ure of the awe inspiring- scene. But those who have wit
nessed it will not be easily satisfied with any vain attempt to
d,epict it on paper; and those who have not will hardly have
their anticipations realized by anything- short of the opportun
ity of judging for themselves. Therefore, have I contented
myself with giving a mere outline of my own impressions; for
he who would attempt to picture a Choctaw Hoyopa-hihla, as
it was exhibited seventy years ago in the midnight solitudes
of a Mississippi forest, would have to aim at condensation and
exaggeration and yet expect failure in both; for adjectives
would' only confuse and'sentences but veil the scene; besides
any description that could be made would not express the
-thousandth part of what ought to be said, and if but a weak
picture was drawn, even then it would be called the wrild hal
lucinations of a disordered brain. But that the reader may
be able to form a faint idea of the scene, I know of nothing
more appropriate, (judging from what I have read and also
been told by eye witnesses) to which it ma}' be compared,
than a Chicago political convention of the present age, with
this exception however; the yells of the Indian squaws were
not heard intermingling with the war-whoops of the. forest
warriors in wild cadences of the war-dance, as the yells of
the white squaws are heard mingling with the political
whoops of the white warriors in the crazed scenes of the con
ventional dance.

On the return of a successful war-path, the village at
once became the scene of festivity and triumph. The varied
trophies — scalps, painted shields, etc., were hung on poles
near the houses. Then followed war-feasts, scalp-dances,
.accompanied with war-songs and shouts of victory,- while the
old men went from house to house rehearsing in 'a' loud tone
•of voice the events of the battle and the various daring ex
ploits of the warriors. But, amid all this, sounds of another
kind were also heard mingling in discordant tones with those
of joy; they were the piteous wailings of the women borne
upon the air from the surrounding hills, where they had
retired to mourn in darkness and solitude for their slain in
battle. There the mother, wife and sister gave full sway to
the anguish of their hearts; reminding the intelligent hearer
o£ that affecting pasasage of Scripture, "In Rama was there
a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted
because they were not."

As all nations of the human family, so the Choctaws of

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 255

both sexes delighted in ornaments. Though the Choctaw
warrior, in his training" for the duties of manhood, inured
himself to fatigue and privation, and in defense of his country
and home, and resenting an insult, was as brave as bravery
itself; yet he was fond of admiring himself before a mirror
when arrayed in the paraphernalia of Choctaw fashion; i. e. a
red turban, highly decorated writh the gay plumage of various
kinds of birds encircling his head; with face painted accord-
to Choctaw etiquette; with crescents of highly polished tin
supended from his neck and extending in regular order
from the chin to the waist; with shining bracelets of the same
metal encircling his wrists and arms above the elbows; with
a broad belt around his waist, tastily interwoven with
innumerable little beads of every gay and flashing color;
with feet encased in moccasins soft and pliant, and highly
decorated with little beads of sparkling hue. did the young
Choctaw warrior walk forth among the admiring beauties of
his tribe as much the personification of a modern, first-class,
white dude, complete and perfect, as ever contested for the
honor of superiority in the "laudable" occupation;, yielding
the palm of victor}7 to his pale-face brother disputant, only in
the "gift of continuance;1' since the Choctaw, after indulging
in momentary paroxysms of self-admiration, .turned from his
mirror, doffed his effeminate plumage to soon forget what
manner of man he appeared, since the thought of his noble
aspirations and strivings returned to excel as a warrior and
conselor in his nation, but leaving his pale-face opponent
master of the field to live and die contented and happ}- in his
imbecility.

The Choctaws were strong in their belief in the exist
ence of hat-tak holth-kun-a Twitches); even as our own "en-
-Tightened" ancestors in the days of Cotton Mather — differ
ing, however, in this particular; the Choctaws selected old
and decrepit women as victims of their superstitions, wrhile
their white brothers, whose boasted civilization had rendered
a little more fastidious, manifested their superiority in
intellectual attainments over the Indians, by selecting the
young as the victims of their wild theories. But ghosts
and witches. have' long since been to the Choctaws as things
r>f the forgotten past.

The restless and fertile imagination of the Choctaws,
.as well as all their race, peopled with beings of a higher or
der than themselves the mountains, plains, woods, lakes,
fountains and streams. But in regard to the origin of man,
the one generally accepted among the Choctaws, as well as
many other tribes was that man and all other forms of life
had originated froin^ the common mother earth through the

256 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

agency of the Great Spirit; but believed that 'the,lruman race-
sprang- from many different primeval pairs created by the
Great Spirit in the various parts of the earth in which man
was found; and according to the different natural features of
the world in which man abode, so their views varied with
regard 'to the substance of which man was created; in a
country of vast forests, they believed the primeval pair, o'r
pairs, sprang from the trees; in a mountainous and rocky
district of country, they sprang from the rocks; in valleys
and prairies, from the earth; but their views as to the time
this creation of man took place, whether at the same time
throughout the various inhabited regions or at different
periods, their traditions are silent.

To the unlettered and untutored mind of man through
out' the world, all things are endowed with individuality and
life; from which arose, no doubt, the great number of mystic
conceptions, regarding the sun, moon, stars, clouds, winds
and storms, as being animate bodies, possessing life as all
animate creatures. The traditions of some of the North
American Indian tribes are said to state, that the sun was
once caught in a snare by a great hunter, and was set free
by the moles, but at the loss of their eyes from its intense
light, and have ever since been blind. Perhaps the primi
tive fathers of those tribes possessed sonie knowledge of
Joshua's command to the orb of day. Brinton states in his
"Myths of the New World," page 55, that the legend of the
Peruvian Incas, in regard to the sun, is\ "He is like a teth
ered beast who makes a daily round under the eye of a
master." Many of the North American Indian tribes be- .
lieved, in regard to the eclipse of "the sun and moon, that
some animal, wolf, dog, etc., was devouring the sun, and'
ma.de every effort to drive him away. Some whipped their
own dogs during an eclipse because a "Big dog" was eating
the sun or moon, and believed the "Big dog" might be in
duced to postpone his meal by the howls of their whipped
curs.

p?he ancient Choctaws believed an eclipse was caused by
a little black squirrel, which had resolved to devour the sun,
and which could only be saved from the little gormandizer
by frightening him away by a great noise, to which I have,
more than once, been an eye witness, and to the modus oper-
randi adopted to give'him a scare; and also testify from ex
perience as to the virtues of the music; at least the sun came
out all right; but as to the strict adherence to the accepted
rules of harmony during the performance, I will write more
definitely on some other page. It is also stated, that the
South American Indians believed that the moon, when in an

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 257

eclipse, was being" devoured by dog's, and, to scare them off,,
the natives, made a great noise. (Tyler, "Culture," Vol. 1,
p. 296.) Also of the African Moors, says Grimm, "Teuto
nic Mythology," Vol, 2, p. 707. When the sun eclipse was at
its highest, we saw the people running- about as if mad, and
firing their guns at the sun, to frighten the monster who,
they supposed, was wishing to devour i^ie orb of day. The
women banged copper vessels together, making such a din
that it was heard miles away." (

A legend of the Mongolians states that a monster con
tinually pursues the sun and moon, and when overtaking the
one or the other an eclipse is the result. The Chinese be
lieve, even at the present day, the sun and moon are being
devoured by a great dragon during an eclipse. During the
eclipse of the sun in 1887, the Chinese authorities, in accord
ance with the usage of the empire, commanded the Buddhist
and Tauist priests to perform their incantations to rescue
thejsun "from the jaws of a devouring monster. It was at
the time of the celebration of the Emperor's birthday,
when all the officials were required to wear embroidered
robes; but it is also the law that during an eclipse officials
who participate in the ceremonies must wear ordinary
clothing until the sun is rescued. An edict had to be ob
tained from the Emperor to settle it. He ordered the offi
cials to ignore .his birthday and attend to the wants of th&
sun. So they all wore ordinary clothes, The EstheJfflabtis.
believed the sun and moon were being eaten during art
eclipse by som^ animal, and endeavored to frighten it away
by conjuring. "The Hindoos, to this day, -believe that a-
giant lays hold of the luminaries, and tries to swallow t&em..
The. Romans flung fire-brands into the air and blew trum
pets and clanged brazen pots and pans." During an eclipse
in the 17th century the Celtics "run about beating kettles
and pans thinking their clamor and vexations available to the
assistance of 'the higher orbs." (Tyler, Op. Cit. p. 301.)
So also it is s*aid of the Northern Asiatics, and of the Finns
of Eurdpe.

N The traditions of the Polynesians state that Mauiand his
brothers thought the sun went too fast for their convenience
and determined to check him; therefore, they made strong-'
ropes, and then went "very far to the eastward, and came to
the very edge of the place out . of which the s>un rises."
There they placed a noose to catch the sun. "He rises up
his head passes through the noose, and it takes>in more and
more of his body, uqftil his fore paws pass Through; then
are pulled tight the ropes. The sun screams aloud; he
roars; Maui strikes him fiercely 'with many blows. They

258 I HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

hold him for a long- time; at last they let him go; and then
weak from wounds the sun crept slowly along- his course."
(Grey's Polynesian Mythology, p. 35-8.) It is said, however,
that there are different versions of this legend; one, that
Maui finally released the sun; another that he still has him
roped, and holds him in check; .and the Polynesians still be
lieve they can- see the ropes at the rising and setting of the
sun, to which they point and exclaim — "Behold the ropes of
Maui," while we" say, "the sun is drawing water," both
equally absurd.

The Australians, it is said, regarded the sun as a woman.
"Every night she descends among the dead, who stand in
double lines to greet her and let her pass. She has a lover
among the dead, who has presented her with a red kangaroo
skin, and in this she appears at her rising." To us how
foolish, yet how similar to our own ancestors, who regarded
the dawn a red cow, and the sun her calf. (Zoological Mytho
logy, Vol. 1, p. 50.) So also of the Vedas whose Ushas (Dawn)
"opens the darkness as a cow her stall." Hence the sacred-
ness of the cow to the Hindoos in their worship; and also, it
might be added, the red heifer among the Israelites. (Num.
19.)

And thus it appears that all other nations of mankind
are, and have been, theorizers, even as the North American
Indians; and though these theories were crude yet they
found embodiment in stories handed down to posterity as
traditions and legends. They were not allegories, but man
:in his primitive state endeavoring- to find out and to explain
the mysteries of nature around him; and, as learning -and
intelligence advanced, these absurdities passed alike into
forgeifulness. So it is evident, we have little ground upon
which to base our contempt for the Indians in regard to their
myths, since we have also passed through the same.

The Choctaws had several classes of dignitaries among
-.them who were held in the hig'hest reverence: The Medi
cine Man or Prophet, the Rain Maker, the Doctor — a verita
ble chip of Esculapius. Well indeed did each fill his allotted
position in life, and faithfully discharge the mystic duties
appertaining thereunto, both in their own opinion as well as
that of their people. The Choctaws' Materia Medica, like
all their race, was Nature, herbs and roots furnishing
their remedies both externally and internally; and the
success with which they used those remedies proved
their knowledge of the healing properties of the various
herbs and roots" in,. which their extensive forests abounded.
They had a specific for the, bite of the sintullo (rattle snake).
Their doctors relied much . on dry-cupping-, using their

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 259

mouth alone in all such cases. Oft have I witnessed the
Choctaw physician, east of the Mississippi river, administer
ing to the necessities of his suffering- patient throug-h the
virtues found in the process of dry-cupping;. Stretching the
sufferer upon a blanket spread upon the ground, he kneeled
beside him and began a process of sucking that part of the
body of which the patient complained, or where, in his own
judgment, the disease was located, making a guttural noise
during the operation that reminded one of dog- worrying- an
opossum; at different intervals raising his head a few inches
and pretending' to deposit into his hands, alternately in the
one and the other, an invisible 'something which he had
drawn from his patient, by a magic power- known alone to
himself.

After sucking a sufficient length of time to nil both
hands, judging from the frequent deposits - therein made,
-with great apparent dignity and solemn gravity, this worthy
son of Esculapius arose and stepping to the nearest tf ee,
post, or fence, wiped the secret contents of his apparently
full hands thereon; then with an air of marked importance
walked away to the enjoyments of his own reflections, while
the sufferer, in real or fancied relief, acknowledged the efficacy
of the physician's healing powers by ceasing to complain,
turned over and sought forgetfulness in the arms of refresh
ing sleep. If there ensued a change for the better he claimed
the honor and praise as due the noble profession of which he
recognized himself a worthy and important member; but if
the disease proved stubborn and refused to yield to the medi
cinal virtues of his herbs, roots and\ dry-cupping, he turned
to his last resort — the Anuka, (Hot-house.) This edifice, an
important adjunct in all ChoctawT villages, was made of logs
rendered nearly air tight by stopping all cracks with mortar.
A little hole was left on one side for an entrance. A fire was
built in the centre of this narrow enclosure, and soon the
temperature within was raised to the desired degree, then
the fire wras taken out and the patient instructed to crawl in;
which being done, the little opening was closed. As a matter
of course, the patient must bake or sweat; wrhich, however,
resulted in the latter; and when, in the opinion of the Alikchi,
(doctor) he had undergone a thorough sweating, the entrance
was opened, and the patient bidden to come forth; who, upon
his exit, at once runs to the nearest water into which he
plunged head first; but if not of sufficient amount and depth
for the correct performance of that ceremony to its fullest
extent, he ducks his head into it several times, thus making
practical the wholesome theory of the hygienist: "Keep
your head cool, but your feet warm." In case of common

260 HISTORY^ OF THE INDIANS.

intermittent fever, the efficiency of this mode of proceeding-
(the sweat and cold bath) was truly astonishing-, seldom
failing- to effect a cure.

But if the patient died — ah, then! with that shrewdness
pecular to all quacks the world over, he readily found a
cause upon which to base his excuse for his inefficacy to
effect a cure; differing somewhat, however, from his white
brother alikchi, who attributes the cause of his failure to
innumerable "where-as-es and ifs," while he openly ackowl-
edged and emphatically declared the interposition of a hat-
tak holth-kun-na (witch), which counteracting the beneficial
virtues of his remedies, had caused the death of his patient
by thus placing him beyond the reach of mortal skill, noth
ing more nor less. Sometimes, for the sake of variety, he
attributed the death of his patient, if occurring very sudden
ly, to an Ish tulbih (witch ball) shot from an invisible rifle in
the hands of a witch. At this important juncture of affairs,
it now becomes his duty to find the witch that he, she, or it,
may be brought to pay the penalty of the law in all such
cases — death. As a matter of course, the doctor, not very
scrupulous in the matter of shifting- the blame from his own
shoulders to that of another — so natural to all mankind—
easily found a witch in the person of some attenuated bid
woman, whom he designated as the guilty party, and who
consequently was immediately slain by the relatives of the
deceased; an illustration of which I have already given in the
case of the unfortunate Il-lich-ih.

In the matter of rain, the Choctaw Rainmaker truly
swayed the sceptre of authority in that line of art, uiidis-

Euted, and was regarded with reverential awe by his people,
n all cases of protracted drouth, which was quite frequent
at an early day in their ancient domains, the Hut-tak Um-ba
7 Ik-bi, (man rain maker) was regarded as the personage in
whom alone was vested the power to create rain; therefore
to him they went with their offerings and supplications, the
former, however, partaking more of a persuasive nature than
the latter, in the judgment of the Umba Ikbi, as an effectual
means to bring into requisition his mysterious power in the
matter of rain. He without hesitation promised to heed
their solicitations, but gently hinting that, in his judgment,
the offerings were not in as exact ratio to their importuni
ties as they should have been. However, he now assumes
an air of mysterious thoughtfulness and, "grand, gloomy
and peculiar wrapped in the solitude of his own imagina
tion," strolled from village to village, gazing at the sun by
day and the stars by night, seeming to hold communion with
the spirits of the upper worlds; finally he ventured his^repu-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 261

tation by specifying- a certain day upon which he would
make it rain. The day arrived, and if haply came
with it a rain the faith of his dupes wasconfirmed, his mystic
power unquestioned, and the Umba Ikbi made comfortable.
But if otherwise, he did not as the Alikchi, attribute his fail
ure to the counteracting influence of a witch in the person
of an old woman, but to that of a brother Umba Ikbi living- in
some remote part of the nation, with whom he was just then
at variance. He now informs his unfortunate b.ut not faith
less people that /an Umba Ikbi's mind must be free of all
contending- emotions while engaged in the mystic ceremo
nies of rain making; that he was now angry, too much mad
to make it rain. Upon which announcement, the now de
spairing people earnestly solicited to know if they, in any
way could assuage his wrath. Pie replied in' the negative;
but promised, however, to consider the matter as soon as his
anger abated. He now became more reserved; sought soli
tude where undisturbed he might scan the sky and per
chance discern some sign of rain. Sooner or later, he
discovers a little-hazv cloud stretched along the distant
western horizon;, attentively and carefully watches it as
broader and higher it ascends, until he feels sure he can
safely risk another promise; then leaves his place of secret
and thoughtful meditation, and, with countenance fair as a
summer morn, presents himself before his despairing
people and announces his anger cooled and wrath departed;
that now he would bring rain without delay, yet drqpping I
casual hint as to the efficacy of a coveted pony, cow, blanket,
etc., being added, as a surer guarantee, since "the Jaborer
was worthy his hire." The hint was comprehended and
fully complied with in hopeful expectation. Anon the low
muttering thunder vibrates along the western horizon in
audible tones, and the lightning flash is seen athwart the
western sky heralding the gathering and approaching storm;
soon the sky is overcast with clouds of blackest hue while
the lightning's flash and the thunder's roar seem to proclaim
to the people their wonderful Umba Ikbi's secret power in
the affair of rain; and, as the vast sheets of falling water wet
the parched earth they sing his praise; which he, with as
sumed indifference, acknowledged with an approving grunt;
then, with measured steps, sought his home, there to await
another necessity that would call him forth to again deceive
his credulous admirers. But all such delusions soon van
ished before the teachings of the missionaries.

In connection with this peculiar one of the Choctaws, I
will here relate an incident that took' place during- a great

262 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

drouth that prevailed in their Nation soon after the estab
lishment of the mission called Hebron.

The Rain Maker had long- been appealed to through sup
plications and fees, but all in vain; and it seemed that the
stubborn drouth had united! -.vith more than one distant broth
er Umba Ikbi in rendering- his present worship prodigiously
mad, not only with them but also with himself and the world
in general, as his ears seemed deaf to all appeals upon the
subject of water. Since wells and cisterns were luxuries
then unknown to the Indians, they depended upon their
rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds, which seldom failed to sup
ply. Amid the prevailing gloom an aged Choctaw widow
named Im-ai-yah (to go by) living two miles south of Hebron,
came one day, as she oft had done before, to talk with her
pale-face friend, Mrs. Cushman, concerning the drouth. She
soon stated that she believed there would be plenty of rain in
a few days. When asked upon what she based her belief,
she replied: "On my way here this morning, I sat down at
the roots of a large tree; while sitting there these thoughts
came to me. Our Rain Maker cannot make it rain, or he
would. If he can make it rain, why should not I be able to
make it rain too? Why should not anyone? Then I asked
myself; who made this big tree? Somebody made it, and he
who made it surely can make it rain too. I know he can; and
I will ask him to please make it rain very soon. I then kneel
ed down at the roots of that big tree and earnestly prayed to
him who made the big tree to please make it rain; and while
I was praying a little cloud formed directly over the tree,
and a little shower fell and many of the drops of water, pass
ing through the leaves of the tree, fell on me. I know now
who can make it rain." "Who?" earnestly asked the deeply
interested pale-face listener. "He who made that tree. Is
he your God of whom you have told me?" "He is," replied
the poor widow's pale-face friend and spiritual teacher. But
I will leave the further conversation that ensued betwen the
two red and white friends to the imagination of the reader,
with this only: No two women were more devoted friends,
the one to the other, than were the poor Choctaw widow and
the "pale-face" missionary. But what of that prayer at the
roots of that "big tree?" It was heard and answered by the
Maker of that "big tree;" who has said, "I will not bruise the
broken reed nor quench the smoking flax." Yes, in a few
days, an abundance of rain fell; yea, more. From that xime
the mystic power of the Umba Ikbis began to wane, and soon
vanished as a summer dream from the Choctaw Nation.
And he who cannot believe that Israel's God heard the hum
ble request of that earnest petitioner, and did not then and

HISTORY OF THE /INDIANS. 263

there acknowledge its virtue in th.^ little shower of rain, and
in a few days answer -that prayer of faith by an abundant
shower, is thrice welcome to his unbelief.

Their laws (for they had laws,) though exceptional in
some respects to the White Race, nevertheless, were good,
and quite consistent with the nations of a primitive age. But
like all others of their race*, their severest law was that of
blood revenge. ''Whosoever^sheddeth 'man's blood, by man
shall his blood be shed" was a statute rigidly enforced among
all North American Indians. It was acknowledged among all,
not only to be the right, but also the imperative duty of the
nearest relative on the male side of the slain, to kill the slayer
wherever and whenever a favorable opportunity was presented.
Under many existing circumstances the law might, perhaps,
have bee'n just and salutary; but unfortunately it went too
far, as any male member of the murderer's family, though
innocent and even ignorant of the- crime, might become the
victim of the avenger of blood, if the guilty had fled; but
such seldom occurred, as the murderer rarely ever made any
effort whatever to escape, but passively submitted to his fate.
Still, this law, revolting as it .may appear to many, exercised
a good influence among the Choctaws, as it had a salutary
effect in restraining them in the heat of passion, by render
ing them cautious in their disputes and quarrels, lest blood
should be shed; knowing the absolute certainty of murder
being avenged sooner or later upon the murderer himself, or
some one of his nearest male relatives; hence 110 man, or
family, would with impunity commit or permit, if they could
avoid or prevent it, an act that would be sure to be avenged,
no one could tell when or where. Days, weeks, and -even
months perhaps,|might pass, yet the avenger sleepeth not nor
has he forgotten; and, at an hour least expected and from a
source least apprehended, the blow at last falls, and there
the matter ends. Nor did the slayer find any protection
from any source whatever, not. even from his nearest rela
tives. Yet calmly and with stoical indifference awaited his
certain doom; nor was the avenger, though known, inter
rupted in any .manner whatever, either before or after he had
accomplished his revenge. The avenger of blood never took
the life of a female of the slayer's family, but satisfied him
self in the death of the slayer himself or in the person of some-,
one of his nearest male relatives. If the murderer had fled,
and the life of one of his male relatives had been sacrificed in
lieu of his own, he. then could return without fear of molesta
tion; but the name of coward was given to him — an appella
tion more dreaded and less endurable than a hundred deaths
to all North American Indians..

264 HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.

A few instances have -been known among" the Choctaws,
where a relative proposed tp-die for the slayer, and was ac
cepted on the part of ttfe relatives of the slain; but such
instances were very rare. I remember of an instance re
lated, of undoubted authority, whilch deserves to be held in
lasting- remembrance if nothing- more than to forever silence
and put to eternal shame the foolish croaking-s of those who
deny to the Indian the possession of any of the finer feelings
and emotions of the. heart, and to establish the fact that the
height, -depth, and breadth of an Indian mother's love can
only be equalled by. that of her wh^te sister, **botlr immeasur
able, incomprehensible, unfathomable. The case which I
here relate, was Toh-to Pe-hah (Red Elm Gathered Up), -an
aged Choctaw mother, who gave her life for that of her old
est son; and which clearly illustrates the depth and strength,
the sensibility and tenderness of maternal affection in an
Indian woman, whose name, had she lived in the days of
classic lore, wduld have been handed down to all future ages
in the songs of the poet minstrels, and upon the pages of the
historians. But alas! she was unfortunately an Indian and
virtue in an Indian is, with many of the present day, not a
virtue; while vice, in their defamers, is. This poor widowed
Choctaw mother, ^pame with others of her friends to the
place of execution on the day her son was to be shot for kill
ing an aged Choctaw man living many miles distant from
that of his own home. This killing was done before the
establishment of. the law that the slayer should be tried by
law, and no longer left in the hands of the "avenger of
blood." Of her four children he was the oldest, her darling
first-born, on whom she mainly depended for assistance in
the support of her little family, and whom she had named
Hoh-tak Lah-ba (Luke Warm).

When the mother arrived at the place of execution, she
found many had already assembled; but with emotions, felt
and known only by and to a mother, she pressed through the
throng to where her doomed boy stood, close to the execu
tioner with the deadly rifle in hand, upon which Hohtak Lah-
Iba looked with steady eye and unshaken nerves. All were
silent. Not a whisper disturbed the profound hush that
rested like a gloomy pall upon that assembly. The mother
glanced a look of love at the erect form of her son, who stood
as a statue before her eyes; then turned them a moment upon
the executioner with an appealing look for compassion; then
beseechingly upon the relatives of the man slain, and at once
broke the silence with an irresistible appeal to them to take
her life instead. of Hohtak Lahba's. uHe is young, and I am
old," she cried. "His wife and child, his two little sisters and

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 265

"brother, will suffer if he is taken from them. They cannot
live without him, they can without me. I am old and can do
but little for them, nor that little long. Your relative he
killed was an old man. Why take a young1 life for an old life?
Take mine in the place of Hohtak Lahba's. Let the avenger
of the death of your kinsman be satisfied with my death.
Blood for blood satisfies our violated law. It seeks no more,
it demands no more. What more should vou require? Speak
kinsman of the dead! Will you accept my life as sufficient
propitiation, a just compensation for the life of your slain?
I await your answer." A murmur of approval was heard in
the crowd, and soon one of the nearest in kindred to the slain
arose and accepted the offer in a firm and distinct tone of
voice. A smile of joy lit up the countenance of Toh-to Pe-hah
as she responded, '"Tis well." A few moments were given
her to bid an adieu to her loved ones, and give her last
admonitions to her wayward boy; after which she calmly
presented herself before the executioner, and, nerved with
a mother's love that bids defiance to fear, bade him do his
duty. Then the sjiarp crack of the rifle broke the profound
stillness of the' moment, and the spirit of that loving Choc-
taw mother winged its flight to Him* who has said: "Where
little is given, little is required." Such was the custom of
this peculiar people in the years of the long ago.^ v\'An eye
for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," was ever found
written in all Indians' code of laws, and to the execution of
which they adhered with the strictest punctuality. The
spirit of the murdered Indian could never take its flight from
earth, or find rest anywhere in the eternal unknown, until
blood had atoned for blood, a belief as firmly fixed upon the
Indian heart as that upon the Christian's, that the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, atoned for the sins of
the world. y

It is natural to suppose that Hohtak Lahba would have
refused the offer of his devoted mother. But custom denied
him the privilege of any action, whatever in the matter. If
the offer was made and accepted by the relatives of the slain,
he no longer stood condemned before the violated law, or in
the eyes of the avenger, and he or she, who had voluntarily
assumed the position, could only make the atonement. The
mother, in this case, had offered her life, a voluntary sacri-
. fice for that of her son's; it had been accepted as a sufficiency
by the avenger, and, even as the law of the Medes and Per
sians that "changeth not," so Tohto Pehah could not re
verse her accepted proposal, even if she had relented, nor
the son refuse, she must die, and Hoh tak Lahba must live;
and the Amen was the response of the law. Yne unfortu-

266 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

nate Hoh tak Lahba, though the avenger of the blood of his
slain victim had beenappeasedat a fearfulcost to him, was af
terwards often taunted by the relatives and friends of the
old man he had slain, with the accusation of cowardice, which
to all' Indians is more to be dreaded than death.

For several years he bore up under their taunts until
he eventually began to believe that all regarded him as a cow
ard, and life to him had became a burden too great to be
longer borne. But what could he do? To take his own life
would not do, since that act would stamp the seal of woe
upon his eternal destiny. How then was he to secure for
himself an honorable death and wipe off the stain of coward
ice that had been attached to his name, and depart to the
eternal and happy home that awaited all brave warriors?
His cogitative mind at last suggested a plan; it was, only by
killinganother man. This he adopted and put into immediate
execution; and to make his death the more certain, he sought,
found, and slew a son of the very man for whose death his
doting mother had so heroically atoned; and though his
victim lived many miles distant, he well knew the deed would
speedily bring the avenger to his side. But that he might
effectually wripe forever from his name the stain of coward
ice, to his own honor and that of his kindred, he at once re
solved to take his own life, since now it would be blood for
blood, and self sacrifice would no longer fix upon him the
penalty of eternal woe. Quietly but resolutely he dug his
own grave before putting his dreadful resolution into effect;
and when completed, calmlyxstretched himself therein to as
certain if it was complete in every particular. As soon as he
had slain his victim he hastened home with his utmost speed,
and at once told his relatives and friends what he had done,
and then said: "You know that I have long been accused of
cowardice, but now I will prove to you that I can also
meet death like. a brave warrior." Well" they knew his fear
ful determination and the impossibility of dissuading him
therefrom, as they sat in gloomy silence awaiting the ap
proaching fearful scene that was" soon to be enacted. Slow- 4
ly he went through with his preliminary death ceremonies
with that stoicism so peculiar to his race; the careful exami
nation of his rifle, to see if it would still be as true to its
trust as it so long had proved in his many conflicts with the
wild beasts of his native forests; the singing of his death
song, (the Indians adieu to earth) and the farewell shaking
of the hands of his relatives and friends present, consisting of
his wife, two sisters and brother, who sat in a mournful
group a little to one side, with eyes vacant and fixed as if
upon some distant object, but presenting a picture of silent

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 267

woe that baffles description; while the old men of the neigh
borhood sat in little groups around, smoking- their pipes in
doleful silence. No wailing-, not even a half smothered sigh,
broke the silence of the solemn scene. Nothing- was heard
but the voice of Hoh tah Lahba, as he now and then chanted
his death-song-. When he had bidden all his last adieu, he
seized his bottle of whiskey, that "bright insignia" of the
white man's "Personal -Liberty," drank a long- draught then
hurled the bottle with its contents to the ground with all his
strength, as if invoking a curse upon its maker and vendor,
then snatched his rifle from its leaning position against a
tree, rushed to his waiting .grave, and the sharp crack of the
rifle that immediately followed told but too plainly that Hoh-
tah Lahba was dead. Then burst forth a long restrained
wrail of grief from his bereaved wife, sisters, and other fe
male friends alone, (as an Indian man never expresses his
grief by any external emotions) heretofore smothered in re
spect to Hoh tah Lahba's request, "that all emotions of
grief be restrained in his presence," that echoed far back
from the surrounding forests.

What Christian heart could witness such a scene without
emotions of sorrow, since it exhibits the human mind
shrouded in the greatest error, wrhile at the same time it
exhibits the elements of a noble nature. Contemplate the
love of that unlettered mother! Listen again to her arguments
before that stern court of inflexible justice, pleading her own'
destitution of all further usefulness to her people, as a just
reason for the preservation of her son's manhood and useful
ness! View the son too, though sacrificing the life of his
loving mother by his wayward life, yet manifesting as great
a sense of shame and fear of public censure, as his civilized
white brother, (yet far more honorable) who sacrificed two
lives also under his so-called exalted views of honor in fighting
a duel ! Now turn aside from a long, lingering gaze upon the
desolate hearts of that wife, now widowed, and those weeping
sisters ; hear again that fearful, undissembled shriek as the
crack of the rifle announced that its messenger of death had
accomplished its work; listen to those lamentations loud,*as
they rush to the fatal spot and throw themselves upon the
quivering body, and then will you, can you, longer deny to
the Indian mother, wife, sister, daughter," any of those divine
and holy sensibilities so justly awarded to the white females?

Truly may it be said of the North American Indian
woman as a general thing, that they rank higher in those
feminine virtues that so peculiarly belong to women than any
unlettered race known in'nistory or otherwise. And for that
highest of all female virtues, chastity, -the full-blood North

268 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ;*

American Indian woman can fearlessly challenge her white
sisters of the entire United States, without the fear of the
possibility of defeat. During- my sojourn among- the Choctaw
and Chickasaw people in the years 1884 to 1890, I made fre
quent inquiries relative to this subject, both of native citizens
and white citizens married among them, and whites living
among them as renters of their farms, and they have spoken
in the highest terms of praise of the chastity of the Choctaw
and Chickasaw women, and to which I add my own, based
upon a knowledge of over seventy years personal acquaint
ance with these two branches* of the Indian race, and also
that of the missionaries who labored among them when
living east of the Mississippi River. In conversation with a
. Chickasaw (half blood) in February, 1886, an ex-auditor of
the Chickasaw Nation and a man of undoubted veracity, who
lived near the line of division between his own people and the
war-like Commanches, and with whom he had formed an
extensive acquaintance by trading among them, he thus
replied to my inquiries concerning the chustitv of the Com-
manche women: "It is an absolute impossibility to rob a
Commanche woman of her virtue, only by superior physical
force. No professions of love, no promises of marriage, no
temptation of bribery, can avail anything in inducing her to
step from the path of rectitude, virtue and honor." I was
informed by a gentleman who lived in the southern part of
Arizona, that he was well acquainted with a tribe of Indians
whose women it was impossible to influence from the path of
virtue. Many of the early1 writers speak in the highest com
mendation of the native Indian women. All praise to the
North American Indian women! uneducated, uncivilized,
with no advantages of moral culture, yet true to the natural
instincts of morality, "adorning" no cities, towns and villages
with houses erected for the prostitution of their bodies and
the eternal damnation of their souls.

The Choctaw women were of medium height, beautiful
in form, strong and a^ile in body; strictly honest, truthful,
light-hearted and gay, and devoted in their affection to fam
ily and friends, while common custom protected them against
all offense, even as it does at the present day; — how com
mendable to the Choctaw men.

There always have existed among the North American
Indians, and still exist, many examples of intellectual ability,
of genius, of high moral feeling and as noble and pure patri
otism as was ever found in any nation of people and as proof
of this fact I relate the following: Some twenty-five years ago
a photographer of Chicago, being in Arizona on a vacation
trip, found and rescued from an Apache camp an abandoned

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 269

Indian male infant of full blood. The photographer became
possessed with a desire to take the boy home with him and
adopt him. In spite of warnings that the child would prove
a viper in his bosom, he carried out his intentions, and rear
ed the boy, to whom the name of Charles Moiitezuma was
given, as a member of his family. The young Apache grew
up to bein.face and physique the very type of his tribe; but
he was at the same time an excellent scholar and a perfect
gentleman. He graduated at the Chicago High School with
credit, and was very popular in his class, being gentle, polite,
industrious. A recent inquiry as to Montezuma's career
since the completion of his high school education developed
the facts that he has selected surgery for a profession, and
will graduate from the Chicago Medical College far above
the average of his class; that he is liked by his classmates
and has never manifested any desire to resume the barbar
ous habits of his relatives, or shown any savage traits what
ever; that he supports himself, during his studies at the
medical college, by filling prescriptions at a Chicago drug
store where he is looked upon as an expert pharmacist, and
that every circumstance indicates that he will make a suc
cessful professional man.

But long since has it been proven and established beyond
contradiction that they possessed capacities as susceptible
of the highest refinement as that of the White Race, which,
wrrapt in the garb of self-importance impervious to truth
and reason, regarded the Indians as inferior beings, unworthy
its consideration, except as objects to be plundered and
destroyed; and in justification of which, called them savages,
but with as little justice and reason as the Indians had to
call them Christians. What unlettered nations, utterly
without books, colleges and schools, have ever produced such
men, worthily renowned as orator^and statesmen in council,
and brave in the field of battle as palriots, as the true Native
Americans of the North Western Continent, in their Mas-
sasoits, Phillips, Pontiacs, Red Jackets, Black Hawks, Te-
cumsehs, Humming Birds, Red Shoes, Apushamatahahs,
* Weatherfords, Osceolas, Ridges, Rosses, Colberts, and
hundreds of others of equal renown? They are not to be found
in tradition on in ancient or modern history.

Who that has read Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans,"
but remembers Uncas, the yonng Mohawk warrior, and
jointly with that of his white friend Leather Stocking, the
hero of the story? It is said his Indian name wTas Tschoop;
but if it is corrupted as badly as all other Indians' names
when put in print by the whites, it is as foreign from his
true name as that by which he figured in the uLast of the

270 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

Mohicans." However, he has been handed down as a noted
warrior among his people — the once powerful and warlike
Mohawks who inhabited the now State of New York in the
years of long- past — famous for his daring- exploits in war,
and his fiery eloquence in the councils of his Nation. In
1741, he was often visited at his home by a Moravian mis
sionary, named Christian Rauch, who often spoke to him
upon the subject of relig-ion during their frequent socal con
versations; and finally asked him if he had any desire to save
his soul. "We all desire that," responded Uncas. The
good missionary, in his zeal, became persistent in urgiug
upon him the importance and great necessity of his becom
ing a Christian, praying and pleading with him — often with
tears; and after many months of prayer and entreaty, the
pious Rauch was delighted to see his forest pupil a changed
man — a truly pious Christian, whom he baptised under the
name of John. In a letter Uncas afterwards sent to the
Delaware Indians, he said: UI have been a bad, very bad,
man. But a white preacher told me there is a God.. I said:
Do I riot know that? Return whence you came.

Then another came and told me that God was offended
at me when I did any bad acts. Again I said: Do I not know
that too? Do you think that I am a fc/ol? Then Christian
Rauch came into my cabin and sat down by me and told me
of my crimes, of Jesus who died to save me from them; and
this he did day after day, until I became tired of his talk and
treatened to kill him if he came to my cabin again. But one
day I came home and found him in my cabin sound asleep.
I stood and looked at him, and said to myself — "What sort
of a man is this? How easily I might kill him; yet he is with
out fear, for he says his Jesus will protect him from all
harm. Who is that that Jesus? I too must and will find
him." And, reader, he did find him; and soon after he be
came not only an humble and devout follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but also became a preacher of the Gospel with
the same fiery eloquence which had given him a power among
his race, and spent many years in traveling among the neigh
boring tribes of his day — who long since have all been num
bered with the events that were fading before the tide of the
white man's Christian oppression like a shadow that leaves
no trace behind, except in the persons of a few who have
survived the wreck of years, only, it seems, because they
have the right to live.

Curiosity was one of the chief characteristics of the*
Choctaws, and held a prominent position in their breasts.
They were desirous to know everything peculiar or strange
that was transpiring about them; not more so, however, than

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 271

any others of the human race. Yet the Choctaw differed
from his white brother in this particular; the white man ex
pressed openly his curiosity at anything- unusual or strange,
and asked innumerable questions concerning- it, and
manifested the greatest excitement until his curiosity
was gratified ; but the Choctaw asked no questions,
nor manifested any "surprise whatever, no matter how
strange or incomprehensible to him, but walked around with
an air of seemingly perfect indifference; yet was attentive to
any and all explanations that were being- made by others.
The ing-enuity of the white man as displayed in his vari
ous inventions was, to him, as to all his race, the deepest
mystery, an incomprehensible enigma that placed the pale
face, in his opinion, in close relationship to super-human
beings; and influenced an ag-ed Indian chief to exclaim, when
viewing* the mysterious working's of a steam engine when
once at Washington City, "I hate the avarice of the white
man's heart, but worship the ing-enuity of his mind." The
astonishment sometimes depicted upon, the countenances of
the Indians when beholding- the wonderful performances of
the white man, audibly expressed by the ancient Choctaws
' in the sudden ejaculation, uWah ? " was often very divert
ing.

On one occasion a venerable old Indian man, who, in
order to light his pipe, was trying to catch a spark upon a
piece of punk struck from his flint and steel; after many
fruitless attempts, a white man standing near had observed
the old man's unsuccessful efforts to obtain the desired
spark, and anticipating a little laugh might be had at the ex
pense of the old veteran, stepped up and proposed to bring
clown fire from the sun with which to light his pipe. At
this astounding- proposal, the old man looked up and shook
his head with an incredulous grunt, which being interpreted
evidently signified: "You are a fool." The white man then
slowly taking a sun-glass from his pocket, held it concealed
in his hand directly over the well filled pipe of tobacco. The
fecal rays of the sun soon did their work. "Now smoke,"
said the white man. The old man'obeyed, and at once his
mouth was 'filled writh smoke. That was enough. He at
once puffed the smoke from his mouth; then stopped and
looked at the \vhite man, then up at the sun; then down at
his well lighted pipe; then again at the white - man and the
sun, with' that expression of amazement and awe which
plainly expressed his now changed opinion, that, instead of
a fool, that white man was nothing more nor less a person
age than the devil himself; and, with eyes askant resting
upon him, he slowly arose and walked away with his last

272 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

formed opinion which no argument could have induced him
to again change; yet not with as devotional a spirit, ^it is pre
sumed, of he of the steam engine.

As an evidence of the tenacity with which the ancient
Choctaws adhered to the veracity of their traditions handed
down through a long line of ancestry, I will here relate a little
incident in which my twin brother and myself (then seven
years of age) were the chief actors, and shared all the glory.
At that time, there was a remembered tradition of their an
cestors which they truly believed, that upale-face" twins (if
boys) possessed the magic power of dispelling all depreda
ting worms and insects from cornfields, gardens, etc., which,
in some years, at that early day, proved quite destructive,
especially to their corn during the milk stage. Now it so
happened during one summer, that the corn-worms were
unusually numerous and were committing great depredations
upon their fields of green corn. This corn-worm, with which
all southern farmers are well acquainted but entertained no
dread, is, when fully grown, about an inch and a half or two
inches long, and aboik the size of a wheat straw, and commits
its depredations (if depredations it may now be called) only
when the corn is in the milk stage, entering the ear at the
top and gradually working downward, but leaving it as soon
as the grain becomes hard. Now it also happened, they had
learned that Mr. Cushman, the "good pale-face," as he was
termed, had a pair of twin boys; a propitious opportunity (long
desired) was now offered to secure for themselves, by an
occular demonstration, the traditional efficacy of the pale-face
twins' super-natural power, which they joyfully embraced.
Unexpectedly, one beautiful June morning, a company
; of fine-looking Choctaw warriors were seen approaching on
i horseback at full speed. They halted at the gate of Mr.
Cushman's yard and called for him. He at once responded
by walking out to them. After the usual friendly salutations
had been passed, they inquired if he had a pair of twin sons,
to which he replied in the affirmative. They then informed
him of the depreciations being committed upon their fields of
green corn, and also of the traditions of their ancestors, re
questing at the same time the loan of his twins that they
might, by that mysterious power possessed alone by pale
face twins, rid them of the voracious pests that were then de
stroying their fields of corn. Mr. Cushman, ignorant of
such a power having been bestowed upon his twin boys, at
first demurred; but they becoming more importunate in
their request, he finally told them he would give them an an
swer in a few minutes. He then stepped into the house and
presented the case to Mrs. Cushman for consideration, who

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 273

at once, from a mother's natural apprehensions that would
arise in such' a novel case, most positively refused her con
sent; but after a few minutes' deliberation reluctantly yield
ed, to the great joy and satisfaction of the twins, who had
been attentive spectators and listeners to the whole proceed
ing's, and had become eager to test their attributed power,
(unknown before) and to enjoy the anticipated novel sport so
closely connected with the horseback ride that was present
ed. Mr. Cushman at once led his little twins to the gate and
introduced them to the now jubilant warriors, by telling
them the respective names of the ''wonderfully gifted"
twins; and then granted their request upon the promise that
they would return his boys in^ the evening of the day, before
the sun had set. The promise was given and accepted by
Mr. Cushman without the least apprehension of its violation,
while Mrs. Cushman stood in the door and viewed the pro
ceedings with that doubtful anxiety known and felt only by
mothers.

Mr. Cushman then set each of his boys upon a horse be
fore a warrior, accompanying the act with the parting re
quest: "Take good care of my little boys!" Unnecessary
.appeal, as not a Choctaw in that little band but would have
shielded the entrusted twins from injury even at the ex
pense of his life. At once we galloped of? in the direction of
their village three miles distant called Okachiloho fah.
(Water falling, or Falling water.) When we arrived in sight,
their success was announced by a shrill whoop to which the
villagers responded their joy by another. As soon as we rode
into the village, we were immediately surrounded by an ad
miring throng, and being tenderly lifted from our positions
on the horses, we were handed over to the care of several old
men, who took us in their arms and with much gravity
carried us into a little cabin, which had previously been set
in order for our reception, where we found prepared a va
riety of eatables, to us seemingly good enough to excite the
appetites of the most fastidious twin epicures; after
which the venerable old seers of the village instructed
us in the mystic rites and ceremonies of their tribe,
preparatory to calling into requisition the magic power
of our twinship in all its bearings* upon the duties
of the day. Then showing us our weapons, which
consisted of iron, wood and fire/the two former in the shape
of a frying-pan, in which we were to burn the worms after
picking them from the corn, and a blazing chunk of fire, two
stout and straight sticks about six feet in length, with the
proper instructions in regard to the manner of using them
effectually. Having been thoroughly drilied in these pre-

274 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

liminaries, the line of march was taken up toward the field
where the enemy were said to be strongly intrenched; in
profound silence and with unfeigned gravity, the Palokta
Tohbi, (Twins White, or White Twins) led the van, borne
upon the shoulders of two powerful warriors closely followed
by three others bearing the arms, while the villagers, headed
by the veteran seers, brought up the rear presenting an im
posing appearance with a considerable smack of the ridicu
lous, even as Don Quixote astride of his famous Rosinante
followed by his valuable squire in like position on his mule.

When the field was reached a halt was made, and two
venerable looking old men, whose- hoary locks and wrinkled
faces bespoke their earthly pilgrimage had extended many
years beyond their allotted three score years and ten, came
to the front and, with solemn mien, lifted us from our perches
and gently placed us over the fence into the field; then hand
ing the frying pan, chunk of fire, and sticks, our weapons, to
us, with a word of encouragement whispered in our ears to
prove ourselves valiant and worthy our traditional fame, they
bade us charge the foe. The plan of the campaign was to
attack the enemy first in the center; there build a hot fire
with the dry wood, previously prepared by the thoughtful
Choctaws, upon \vhich place the frying pan and into which
throw all prisoners without discrimination, as our flag bore
the motto — "Neither giving nor asking quarter;" and like
wise also at the the four corners of the field. The centre
was gained, the fire made, and upon it placed the pan; then
we made a vigorous attack upon the strong-holds of the
enemy dislodging them and at the same time taking them
prisoners of war; then hurrying them to the centre hurled
them hors de combat into the frying pan heated to a red heat,
and with our ready sticks stirred them vigorously, while the
wreathes of smoke that ascended from the' scene of carnage
and floated away before the summer breeze, together with
the odor, not as fragaant to the sensitive nose, however, as
the lily or the rose, gave undisputed evidence of our victories;
while our waiting Choctaw friends, acknowledged their
approval from the outside of the field, (since the tradition, for
bade^ them sharing in the dangers of the conflict — the Palok-
tas must fight alone) filling our youthful hearts with heroic
emotions unfelt before or afterwards.

After we had immolated two or three panfulls of the
enemy at the center and at each corner of the field, nor lost a
man, we returned in triumph to our waiting friends, by
whom we were received with unfeigned manifestations of
affection and pride. Thence we were borne as before to
other fields, where were enacted the same prodigies of valor,

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 275

with similar results until the declining sun gave warning- of
their promise not being- fulfilled if the Paloktas were not re
turned ere the sun went down. Therefore we were carried
from our last field of slaughter back to the village in "glori
ous triumph," where never were offered to frail mortality
more sincere homage and unfeigned devotion than were be
stowed upon the Paloktas by those grateful Choctaws. They
seemed only to regret not being able to manifest a still
greater degree of gratitude, and to do more for us as a man
ifestation of their appreciation of the great favor
we had conferred upon them. With zealous care they
watched over us while under their care, that no
harm might befall us. As we came so we returned, and
safely reached home ere the sun sank behind the western
horizon. We were afterwards' frequently called upon,
much to our gratification and delight, it was fun for us, to
bring into requisition our mysteriously delegated power in
behalf of their cornfields; and we became the special favor
ites of that kind-hearted and appreciative people; and woe to
him or them who should impose upon or attempt to injure
their little pets, the pale-face Paloktas. But the boyish
pride that filled my heart on those occasions, though seventy
years have fled, is remembered to this-day. haunting the
imagination with a mystic power, as thought goes back to
many a vanished scene recalling associates incident to the
days of the long past.

But curiosity might now be inquisitive enough to ask:
"Did the \vorms cease their depredations on the green
corn?" To wljich I reply: Many of them certainly did; and,
as no further complaint was made by the Choctaws during
that season, it is reasonable to suppose those that were left,
after the immolation of so many of their relatives, took a
timely hint and sought other quarters where pale-face Palok
tas were unknown; but whether actuated through fear of a
similar fate as had befallen a goodly number of their com
panions, or because the corn had become too hard by age for
easy mastication and healthy digestion, I will'leave for future
consideration and determination of those who , feel more
interested in its solution than I do just now. However, this"
much I can and will unfold; as the little pale-face Paloktas
honorably sustained the reputation of their mystic art, at
least in the opinion of their Choctaw friends, who were ren
dered supremely happy in the indulgement of their faith in
the truth of the ancient declaration of their honored an
cestors; appreciative and gratefuljto the "Good Pale-face" for
the loan of his favored twins; and the twins enjoyed the new
and novel sport, and nobody hurt, (unless the worms, who

276 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

are at liberty to render their own complaint,) we will let it
pass without further ado as being- only a little superstitious
yet novel affair, not less unreasonable'however, in all its con
comitants than other superstitions so oft indulged by the
human race of all nationalities, even of to-day as well as in
the years of yore.

There were many traditions among' all North American
Indians, many of which bordered on the poetical and from
which I will select one or two more, which shall suffice as
examples of a few of the peculiarities of this peculiar yet
interesting- people.

Thus says the tradition of "Ohoyo Osh Chisba," (The
Unknown Woman.) In the days of many moons ago, two
Choctaw hunters were encamped for the nig-ht in the' swamps
of the bend of the Alabama river. But the scene was not
without its romance. Dark, wild, and unlovely as a swamp
is generally imagined to be, yet to the musing heart and
contemplative spirit, it had its aspects of beauty, if not of
brightness, which rose up before the mind as objects of se
rene delight, i speak from long- personal experience. Its
mysterious appearance; its little lakes and islands of repose:
its silent and solemn solitudes; its green cane-breaks and
lofty trees, all combined to present a picture of strange but
harmonious combination to which a lover of nature in all its
diversified phases could not be wholly insensible. The two
hunters having been unsuccessful in the chase on that and
the preceding- day, found themselves without anything- on
that night with which to satisfy the craving's of hunger ex
cept a black hawk which they had shot with an arrow. Sad
reflections filled their hearts as they thought of their sad dis
appointments and of their suffering- families at home, while
the gloomy future spread over them its dark pall of despon
dency, all serving to render them unhappj' indeed. They
cooked the hawk and sat down to partake of their poor and
scanty supper, when their attention was drawn from their
gloomy forebodings by the low but distinct tones, strange
yet soft and plaintive as the melancholy notes of the dove,
but produced by what they were wholly unable to even con
jecture. At different intervals it broke the deep silence of
the early night with its seemingly muffled notes of woe; and
as the nearly full orbed moon slowly ascended the eastern
sky the strange sounds became more frequent and distinct.
With eyes dilated and fluttering heart they looked up and
down the river to learn whence the sounds proceeded, but
no object except the sandy shores glittering in the moon
light greeted their eyes, while the dark waters of the river
seemed alone to give response in murmuring- tones to the

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 277

strange notes that continued to float upon the night air from
a direction they could not definitely locate; but happening- to
look behind them in the direction opposite the moon they
saw a woman of wonderful beauty standing upon a mound a
few rods distant. Like an illuminated shadow, she had sud
denly appeared out of the moon-lighted forest. She was
loosely clad in snow-white raiment, and bore in the folds of
her drapery a wreath of fragrant flowers. She beckoned
them to approach, while she seemed surrounded by a halo of
light that gave t'o her a supernatural appearance. Their im
agination now influenced them to believe her to be the Great
Spirit of their nation, and that the flowers she bore were re
presentatives of loved ones who had- passed from earth ,to
bloom in the Spirit-Land; truly, a beautiful sentiment that
touches every heart, for who has not some treasure in that
immortal home? Reason as we may, there is something, in
describable though it may be, that draws us to the unseen
•world; and we pine for a word or token from the dear ones
who have thither gone. Call it heathenish if you will, a relic
of superstition, of the days when every rock, tree and plant
were deemed the abode of a deity, but we never gather a
flower that we do not feel for the life thus ended. It may be
an error clothed with beauty and tenderness, and far more
harmless than the theory that thrusts us helpless into life
and leaves us to grope our way through it uncared for, -.then
to die unnoticed and forgotten.

The mystery was solved. At once they approached to
where she stood, and offered their assistance in any way they
could be of service to her. She replied she was ver^y hungry,
whereupon one of them ran and brought the roasted hawk
and handed it to her. She accepted it with grateful thanks;
but, after eating a small portion of it, she handed the remain
der back to them replying that she would remember their
kindness when she returned to her home in the happy hunt
ing grounds of her father, who was Shilup Chitoh Osh — The
Great Spirit of the Choctaws. She then told them that when
the next mid-summer moon should come they must meet her
at the mound upon which she was then standing. She -then
bade them an affectionate adieu, and was at once borne away
upon a gentle breeze and, mysteriously as she came so she
disappeared. The two hunters returned to their camp for the
night and early next morning sought they- homes, but kept
the strange incident a profound secret to themselves. When
the designated time rolled around the mid-summer full moon
found the two hunters at the foot of the mound but Ohoyo
•Chishba Osh was nowhere to be seen. Then remembering
she told them they must come to the very spot where she

278 .HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

was then standing, they at once ascended the mound and
found it covered with a strange plant, which yielded an ex
cellent food, which was ever afterwards cultivated by the
Choctaws, and named by them Tunchi; (Corn).

Somewhat similar to the tradition of the Ohoy,o Chishba
Osh is that of the Hattak Owa Hushi Osh, (The Man Hunt
ing For The Sun.)

The Choctaws once, a great amount of corn having been
made and as a manifestation of their appreciation and,gratifi-
cation and gratitude to the Great Spirit, their benefactor,
held a Great National Council at which their leading prophet
spoke at great length upon the beauties of x Nature which
contributed so much to their pleasure, and the various pro
ductions of the earth and the enjoyment derived therefrom,
attributing much of all to the effects of the sun. That great
lighter and heater of the earth came from the east, but
whence it went after it had passed behind the western hills,
had long been a subject of debate, never satisfactorily de
termined. Again the mooted question was brought up by
the prophet in his speech at the aforesaid council, who, in
a strain of wild eloquence, cried out, ''Is there not a warrior
among all my people who will go and find out what becomes
of the sun when it departs in the west? " At once a young
warrior, named Oklanowah, (Walking People) arose in the
assembly and said: k'I will go and try to find where the sun
sleeps, though I may never return." He soon took his de
parture on his dubious errand leaving behind him one sad
heart at least, to whom he gave a belt of wampum as a token
of remembrance.

But after an absence of many years he returned to the
home of his nativity, only to find himself an entire stranger
among his people. After many days search, however, he
found one in the person of an aged and decrepit woman, who
remembered the circumstances connected with the young
hunter who had gone many years before on his adventurous
exploit to find the sleeping place of the sun; and though he
was satisfied that she was his identical betrothed — the loved
one of his youth — oft spoke with the deepest affection- of her
long lost Oklanowah, yet no arguments could induce her to
acknowledge the old man before her as her lover of the past.
The unfortunate and forlorn Hattak Owa Hushi Osh spent
his few remaining days in narrating his adventures to his peo
ple, the vast prairies and high mountains he had crossed; the
strange men and animals he had seen; and, 'above all, that
the sleeping place of the sun was in a big, blue water. Still
after hearing all this, the old woman, more incredulous than
"doubting Thomas" of Biblical fame, refused to believe, but

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 279

secluded herself in her lonely cabin, and alone occupied the
sad hours of the days and years that came and went in
counting the wampum in her belt, the sacred memento of her
Oklanowah — loved, but lost; lost, yet loved. -Spring- return
ed, but ere the leaves were grown Hattak Owa Hushi Osh
died, and was buried near the ancient mound Nunih Waiyah,
and ere the moon of the corn planting had come, the old
woman also died, and she. to was buried at the sacred Nunih
Waiyah by the side of her unrecognized yet faithful Okla
nowah.

Another specimen of their love legends is exhibited in
that of Chahtah Osh Hochifoh Keyu— the Nameless Chah
tah. In the days of the long past there lived in the Choctaw
village Aiasha, (Habitation), the only son of a great war-
chief. This son was noted for his wonderful beauty of form
and features and manly bearing. The aged men of the
Nation predicted, on account of his known and acknowledged
bravery, he would become a renowned warrior. But as he
had not distinguished himself in. war either by slaying an
enemy, taking a prisoner, or striking the dead (a feat ac
companied with the greatest danger, as every effort is made
by the friends of the fallen warrior to prevent such an insult
to the dead), he was not permitted to occupy a seat in the
councils of, the tribe, though respected and honored, and his
bravery undoubted by all.

According to the custom of the ancient Choctaws, a boy
was not given a specific name in childhood unless he merited
it by some daring act, and the. young warrior, by some un
avoidable chain of circumstances, passed through his chrys
alis stage of life without having won a reputation according
to his youthful abilitv; therefore went by the general name
Chahtah Osh Hochifoh Keyu. The Nameless Chahtah. In
the same village of Aiashah, there also lived, according to the
legend, the most famous beauty of the tribe, the daughter of
a noted warrior and skillful hunter, and the betrothed of
Chahtah Osh Hochifo Iksho. Though they often met at the
great dances and festivals of the tribe, yet she (whose name
the legend does not state) treated him with distant reserve
(then the universal custom of the Choctaw girls) though the
ardent lover of the nameless hero. Still one cloud cast its
gloomy shadow over their happiness; it was the knowledge
of the stubborn truth, that the laws of their Nation, as those
of the Medes and Persians, were unalterable; and that they
could never become husband and wife until he had acquired
a name by some daring deed in battle with the enemies of
his country. But time slowly rolled away and summer again
came with a balmy day followed by its evening twilight^

280 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

which witnessed the lovers seated together upon the summit
of a hill shaded by the foliage of innumerable and immense
forest trees. Far below from a distant plain ascended the
light and smoke from the fire of a war-dance, around which
danced in wild excitement four hundred Choctaw warriors,
preparatory to a war-expedition against the Osages, far dis
tant to the west, and that night , was the last night of their
Sreparatory ceremonies. Previous to that night Chahtah
sh Hochifoh Keyu had acted as one of the most conspicu
ous in the dances engaged in the four previous nights before,
but on the last night, had retired from the dance to enjoy a
parting interview with his betrothed. . There they parted,
and ere the morning's sun again lighted up the eastern hori
zon, the "sound of revelry by night" had ceased, while
silence again resumed her sway o'er Nature's vast expanse,
and bespoke the four hundred warriors with Chahtah Osh
Hochifoh Keyu were many miles upon the war-path that led
to the country of the Osages among the headwaters of the
Arkansas river.

The hostile land was reached, and soon they discovered
a large cave into which they entered, that concealed they
might the better arrange their plans for future operations,
being then in the enemies' country. Two scouts, however,
were sent out to reconnoitre, one to examine the surround
ings east, the other west. The latter was Chahtah Osh
Hochifoh Keyu. But alas for human hopes! The evening
passed away and night came on bringing one Osage hunter
who had oft before sought the cave and found a safe resting
place for the night. But as he drew near the cave, his ob
servant eyes, ever on the alert, discovered signs which told
him of the presence of others; further examination revealed
that they were his nation's most bitter and unrelenting ene
mies, the hated Choctaws. Silently he stole away undis
covered by the Choctaws, until safely distant, then sped
away through the darkness on nimble feet to his village and
told of his discovery; at once a large band of Osag'e warriors
rushed for the cave, and as they drewnear gathered up small
logs, chunks, limbs and brush with which they silently and
effectually closed the mouth of the cave, and to which they
applied the torch, and the sleeping Choctaws awoke but to
read their inevitable doom — all perished. The Choctaw
scout who had gone east returned during the night, but ere
he reached the cave the flames revealed to him the tale of
woe; he approached near enough, however, to comprehend the
whole; stooda moment and gazed in mazv bewilderment, then
turned and fled for home where he safely arrived and re
vealed the sad intelligence of the wretched fate of his com-

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 281

rades to their relatives and friends. It was also believed by
all that Chahta Osh Hochifoh Keyu had been discovered and
had also been slain. The sad tidings fell heavily upon all
and the wail of woe was heard in many a village and cabin;
but upon one it fell with terrible weight; and the promised
wife of "The Nameless Choctaw" at once began to droop
and soon withered away as a rose severed from the parent
stem; and ere another moon had passed away she was laid
away in a grave upon the very spot (by her request) where
she had last shared the parting embrace with her adored
Chahtah Osh Hochifoh Keyu, upon whose tomb-stone, had
one been erected to her memory, could justly have borne the
epitaph — "A broken heart."

But the supposition that he too had been slain proved
untrue. Though he had been discovered by the Osages and
vigorously pursued for several days arid nights, he finally
was fortunate enough to escape. During the chase his flight
had- been devious, and when he had gotten beyond the danger
of further pursuit by his fearful foes, he found himself to be
a bewildered man, wretched and forlorn. Everything ap
peared wrong, and even the sun appeared to him to rise in
the wrong direction, all nature was out of order. After
several days of dubious wanderings, hither and thither, he
knew not where, he came to the foot of a mountain, whose
sides were covered with a kind of grass entirely different
from anything he had ever seen before. Then, in the course
of his wanderings, he 'strayed, at the close of another day,
into a lovely wooded valley, where he camped for the night,
kindled a fire and cooked a rabbit he had killed, of which he
made his supper, and then sought temporary forgetfulness
of his woes in sleep, Morning again dawned, but to awake
•him to a stronger sensibility of his loneliness and wander
ings he/knewr not where. Many moons came and passed
away and left him a lost wanderer. Summer came, and he
called upon the Great Spirit to make his paths straight, that
they might lead him out of bewilderment. He then hunted
for a spotted deer, found and killed one, and offered it a sac
rifice to the Great Spirit, after reserving a small portion to
satisfy his own immediate wants. Night again came on. and
as he sat by his little campfire in lonely solitude, he heard
the near approach of footsteps in an adjoining thicket, but
before he could take a second thought, a snow-white wolf of
immense size was crouching at his feet, and licking his
moccasins with the utmost manifestations of affection. Then
looking him in the face said: "Whence came you, and why
are you alone in this wilderness?" To which Chohtah Osh
Hochifoh Keyu gave a full account of his misfortunes. The

282 HISTORY OF THE> INDIANS.

wolf then promised to lead him safely out of the wilderness
in which he had been, so long- wandering- and return him
to his country, and they started early on the following
morning.

Long- was the journey, and dangerous the route; but by
the time that the corn-hoeing moon came the forlorn wan
derer entered once more his native village, the anniversary
of the day he. had bidden his betrothed adieu; but alas, only
to find his village in mourning for her premature death. Alas
too, so changed was he that none recognized in the wayworn
stranger the lost Chatah Osh Hochifoh Keyu; nor did he
make himself known. Often, however, did he solicit them to
rehearse to him the account of her death; and oft he chanted
his wild songs, to the astonishment of all, to the memory of
his loved one, dead yet loved, loved yet dead. During his
frequent nightly visits to her lonely grave upon the hill which
had witnessed their last parting, he once came on a calm,
cloudless night — 'twas his last — and stood by the grave that held
his dead at a moment when the Great Spirit cast a shadow
upfln the moon, then fell upon it and died. They found him
there, and then was he recognized as the long lost Chatah
Osh Hochifoh Keyu, and there buried by the side of his
earthly idol. For three consecutive nights the silence of the
forests contiguous to the lovers' graves was broken by the
continual wailing howl of a solitary wolf, then it ceased and
was heard no more; but the same wail was taken up by the
'pine forest upon the hill where the lovers parted in hope, but
there to be buried in despair, and that mournful, wailing
sound they have continued from that day dawn to the present
time.

The traditions of the Choctaws concerning the Oka Fal-
ama (Returned waters — the Flood) is as follows : In ancient
time, after many generations of mankind hadlivecl and passed
from the stage of being,' the race became so corrupt and
wicked — brother fighting against brother and wars deluging
the earth with human blood and carnage — the Great Spirit
became greatly displeased and finally determined to destroy
the human race ; therefore sent a great prophet to them
who proclaimed from tribe to tribe, and from village to vil
lage, the fearful tidings that the human race was soon to
be destroyed. None believed his words, and lived on in
their wickedness- as if they did not care, and the seasons
came again and went. Then came the autumn of the year,
followed by many succeeding cloudy days and nights, dur
ing which the sun by day and the moon and stars by night
were concealed from the 9arth ; then succeeded a total dark
ness, and the sun seemed to have been blotted out ; while

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 283*,

darkness and silence with a cold atmosphere took posses
sion of earth. Mankind wearied and perplexed, but not re
penting- or reforming-, slept in darkness but to awake in
darkness ; then the mutterings of distant thunder began to
be heard, gradually becoming incessant, until it reverbera
ted in all parts of .the skv and seemed to echo back even from
the deep center of the earth. Then fear and consternation
seized upon every heart and all believed the sun would never
return. The Magi of the Choctaws spoke despondently in
reply to the many interrogations of the alarmed people, and
sang their death-songs which were but faintly heard in the
mingled confusion that arose amid the gloom 'of the night
that seemed would have no returning morn. Mankind went
from place to place only by torch-light ; their food stored
away became mouldy and unfit for use ; the wild animals of
the forests gathered around their fires bewildered and even
entered their towns and villages, seeming to have lost all
fear of man. Suddenly a fearful crash of thunder, louder
than ever before heard, seemed to shake the earth, and im
mediately after a light was seen glimmering seemingly far
away to the North. It was soon discovered not to be the
light of the returning- sun, but the gleam of great waters ad
vancing- in mighty billows, wave succeeding wave as they on
ward rolled over the earth destroying everything- in their
path . '

Then the wailing cry was heard coining from all direc
tions, Oka Falamah, Oka Falamah; (The returned waters).
Stretching" from horizon to horizon, it came pouring- its mass
ive waters onward. "The foundations of the Great Deep
were broken up." Soon the earth was entirely overwhelmed
by the mig-hty and irresistible rush of the waters which swept
away the human race and all animals leaving the earth a des
olate waste. Of all mankind only one was saved, and that
one was the mysterious prophet who had been sent by the
Great Spirit to warn the human race of their near approach
ing doom. This prophet saved himself by making- a raft of "
of sassafras log's by the direction of the Great Spirit, upon
which he floated upon the great waters that covered the
earth, as various kinds of fish swam around him, and twined
among- the branches of the submerged trees, while upon the
face of the waters he looked upon the dead bodies of men
and beasts, as they arose and fell upon the heaving- billows.

After many weeks floating he knew not where, a large
black bird came to the raft flying in circles above his head.
He called to it for assistance, but it only replied in loud,
croaking tones, then flew away and was seen no more. A
few days after a bird of bluish color, with red eyes and beak

284 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

came and hovered over the raft, to which the. prophet spoke
and asked if there was a spot of dry land anywhere to be
seen in the wide waste of waters. Then it flew around his
head a few moments fluttering its wing's and uttering" a
mournful cry, then flew away in the direction of that part of
the sky where the new sun seemed to be sinking- into the
rolling1 waves of the great ocean of waters. Immediately a
strong- wind sprang up and bore the raft rapidly in that
direction. Soon night came on, and the moon and stars
again made their appearance, and the next morning' the sun
arose in its former splendor; and the prophet looking around
saw an island in the distance toward which the raft was
slowly drifting, and before the sun had gone down seemingly
again into the world of waters, the raft had touched the
island upon which he landed and encamped, and being wear
ied and lonely he soon forgot his anxieties in sleep; and when
morning came, in looking around over the island, he found it
covered with all varieties of animals — excepting* the mam
moth which had been destroyed. He also found birds and
fowls of every kind in vast numbers upon the island; and
among which he discovered the identical black bird which
had visited him upon the waters, and then left him to his
fate; and, as he regarded it a cruel bird, he named it Fulushto
(Raven) — a bird of ill omen to the ancient Choctaws.

With great joy he also discovered the bluish bird which
had caused the wind to blow his raft upon the island, and be
cause of this act of kindness and its great beauty he called it
Puchi Yushubah (Lost Pigeon).

After many days the waters, passed away; and in the
course of time Puchi Yushubah became a beautiful woman,
whom the prophet soon after married, and by them the world
was again peopled.

Whence this tradition with such strong resemblance to
the account of the deluge as given in the Sacred Scriptures?
It is not fiction or fable, but the actual tradition of the ancient
Choctaws as related by them to the/ missionaries in 1818.
Whence this knowledge of the flood of the Bible? Does one
reply, they obtained it from the early European explorers
of the continent? Not so; for the earliest explorers speak of
. the North American Indians' various traditions of the Flood.
May it be possible that their ancestors, far back in the early
dawn of the morn of Christian ty, received it from some one
or more of the apostles, as ours did — the ancient Britons?
Who knows? It is not a thing impossible, if we admit they
drifted ages ago from Asia's shores to the western conti
nent. If not, whence and how have 'they this knowledge of
the flood?

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 285

St. Paul himself declares, in his epistie to the Galatians,
that soon after he had been called to preach Christianity
among- the heathen, he "went into Arabia." The dissen
sions which arose in the Eastern church, in the early part of
the third century, breaking- it up into sects, drove many into
exile into remote parts of the East, and planted the Chris
tian faith among- the principal tribes of that region.

Another Choctaw version of their traditional flood (Oka-
falama) is as follows: In the far distant ages of the past,
the people, whom the Great Spirit had created, became so
wicked that he resolved to sweep them all from the earth, ex
cept Oklatabashih (People's .mourner) and his family, who
alone did that which was good. He told Oklatabashih to
build a larg-e boat into which he should go with his family
and also to take into the boat a male and female of all the an
imals living- upon the earth. He did as he was commanded
by the Great Spirit. But as he went out in the forests to
bring- in the birds he wras unable to catch a pair of biskinik
(sapsucker), fitukhak (yellow hammer), bak bak. (a large
red-headed woodpecker); as these birds were so quick in.
hopping- around from one side to the other of the trees upon
which they clung- with their sharp and strong claws, that
Oklatabashih found it was impossible for him to catch them,
therefore he g-ave up the chase, and returned to the boat,
and the door closed, the rain beg-an to fall increasing- in vol
ume for many days and nights, until thousands of people and
animals perished. Then it suddenly ceased and utter dark
ness covered the face of the earth for a long" time, while, the
people and animals that still survived groped here and there
in the fearful gloom. Suddenly far in the distant north was
seen a long- streak of light. They believed that, amid the
raging elements and the impenetrable darkness that covered
the earth, the sun had lost its way and was rising in the
north. All the surviving people rushed towards the seem
ingly rising sun, though utterly bewildered, not knowing
or caring what they did. But well did Oklatabashih in
terpret the prophetic sign of their fast approaching doom.
Instead of the bright dawn of another long wished-for day,
they saw, in utter despair, that it was but the mocking light
that foretold how near the Okafalama was at hand, rolling
like mountains on mountains piled and engulfing everything
in its resistless course. All earth was at once overwhelmed
in the mighty return of waters, except the great boat which,
by the guidance of the Great Spirit, rode safely upon the
rolling and dashing waves that covered the earth. During
many moons the boatfloated safely o'er the vast sea of waters.
Finally Oklatabashih sent a dove to see if any dry land could

286 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

be found. She soon returned with her beak full of grass,
which she had gathered from a desert island. Oklatabashih
to reward her for her discovery mingled a little salt in her
food. Soon after this the waters subsided and the dry land
a-opeared; then the inmates of the great boat went forth to
repeople another earth. But the dove, having acquired a
taste for salt during her stay in the boat continued its use
by finding it at the salt-licks that then abounded in many
places, to which the cattle and deer also frequently resorted.
Every day after eating, she visited a salt-lick to eat a little
salt to aid her digestion, which in the course of time became
habitual and thus was transmitted to her offspring. In the,
course of years, she became a grand-mother, and took great
delight in 'feeding and caring for her grand-children. One
day, however, after having eaten some grass seed, she un
fortunately forgot to eat a little salt as usual. For this
neglect, ,the Great Spirit punished her and her descendants
by forbidding them forever the use of salt. When she re
turned home that evening, her grand-children, as usual be
gan to coo for their supply of salt, but their grand-mother
having been forbidden to give them any more, they cooed in
vain. From that day to this, in memory of this lost privil
ege, the doves everywhere, on the return of spring, still con
tinue their cooing for salt, which they will never again be
permitted to eat. Such is the ancient tradition of the Choc-
taws of the origin of the cooing of doves.

But as to the fate of the three birds who eluded capture
by Okjatabashih, their tradition-states : They flew high in
air at the approach of Okafalama, and, as the waters rose
higher and higher, they also flew higher and higher above
the surging waves. Finally, the -waters rose in near prox
imity to the. sky, upon which they lit as their last hope.
Soon, to their great joy and comfort, the waters ceased to
rise, and commenced to recede. But while sitting 011 the
sky their tails, projecting downward, were continually being
drenched by the -dashing spray of the surging waters below,
and thus the end of their tail feathers became forked and
notched, and this peculiar shapfe of the tails of the biskinik,
fitukhak and bakbak has been transmitted to their latest
posterity. But the sagacity and skill manifested by these
birds in eluding the grasp of Oklatabashih,. so greatly de
lighted the Great Spirit that he appointed them to forever be
the guardian birds of the red men. Therefore these birds,
and especially the biskinik, often made their appearance in
their villages on the eve of a ball play ; and, whichever one of
the three came, it twittered in happy tones its feelings of
joy in anticipation of the near approach of the Choctaws1

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 287

favorite game. But in time of war one of these birds al
ways appeared in the camp of .a war party, to give them
warning- of approaching danger, by its constant chirping
and hurried flitting from place to place around their camp.
In many ways did these birds prove their love for and
friendship to the red man, and he ever cherished them as
the loved birds of his race, the remembered gift of the
Great Spirit in the fearful days of the mighty Okafalama.

The French in making their voyages of discovery along
the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 1712, under the command
of Iberville, anchored one evening near an island ('now known
as Ship Island) which they discovered to be intersected with
lagoons and inhabited by a strange and peculiar animal
seemingly to hold the medium between the fox and cat, and
they give it the name Cat Island, by which it is still known;
thence they passed over the main land, where they discovered
a tribe of Indians called Biloxi, among whom they afterwards
located a town and gave it the name Biloxi — now the oldest
town in the State of Mississippi. This tribe of Indians
proved to be a clan of the Choctaws, and the name Biloxi, a
corruption of the Choctaw word Ba-luh-chi, signifying hick
ory bark. Thence going' eastward they discovered another
tribe weich they called the Pascagoulas, which also proved
to be a clan of the Choctaws, and the name Pascagoula, a
corruption of the two Choctaw words Puska (bread) and
Okla (people), i. e: Bread People, or people having bread;
but which has been erroneously interpreted to mean "Bread
Eaters." A remnant of the Ba-luh-chis still exist among the
Choctaws, while the Puskaoklas have been long lost by unit
ing with other Choctaw clans. There was an ancient tradi
tion among the Puskaoklas, which stated that, in the years
long past, a small tribe of Indians of a lighter complexion than
themselves, and also different in manners and customs, ^in
habited the country near the mouth of the Pascagoula river r
whose ancestors, according to the tradition, originally emer
ged from the sea, where they were born; that they were a
kind, peaceful and inoffensive people, spending their time in
public festivals and amusements of various kinds; that they
had a temple in which they worshiped the figure of a Sea
God; every night when the moon was passing from its cres
cent to the full, they gathered around the figure playing upon
instruments and singing and dancing, thus rendering hom
age to the Sea God. That shortly after the destruction of
Mobilla (now Mobile, Alabama,) in 1541, by De Soto, there
suddenly appeared among the Sea God worshippers a white
man with a long, gray beard, flowing garments and bearing
a large cross in his right hand; that he took from his bosom

288 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

X

a book, and, after kissing- it again and again, he began to ex
plain to them what was contained in it; that they listened
attentively and were fast being- converted to its teaching's
when a fearful catastrophy put an end to all. One night,
when the full moon was at its zenith, there came a sudden
rising of the waters of the river, which rolled in mighty
waves along its channel; on the crest of thefoamingwaterssat
a woman, with magnetic eyes, singing in a tone of voice that
fascinated all; that the white man, followed by the entire
tribe, rushed to the bank of the stream in wild amazement,
when the siren at once, modulated' her voice to still more
fascinating tones, chanting a mystic song with the oft
repeated chorus, "Come to me, come to me, children of the
sea! Neither book nor cross, from your queen, shall win ye;"
Soon, an Indian leaped into the still raging waters, followed
by the remainder in rapid succession, all disappearing as
they touched the water, when a loud and exultant laugh was
heard, and then the waters returned to their usual level and
quiet leaving no trace of their former fury; the white man
was left alone, and soon died of grief and loneliness.

TRADITION OF THE PAPAGOES INDIANS.

It is stated of the Papagoes, (known as the short-haired
Indians of the Southwest) that an ancient tradition of their
tribe proclaims the coming of a Messiah by the name "Moc-
tezuma." They affirm that, in the ancient past, he lived in
Casa Grande, the famous prehistoric temple on the Gila
river; that his own people rebelled against him and threaten
ed to kill him, and he fled7 to Mexico. But before leaving
them he told them that they would experience great afflic
tions for many years, but eventually, at the time of their
greatest need, he would return to them from the east with
the rising sun; that he would then cause the rain to fall again
upon their arid country, and make it bloom as a garden, and
make his people to become the greatest on earth. There
fore, when Moctezuma arrives, that he may see all the doors
open and none closed against him, this humble people, with
a pathetic faith, make the only entrance to their houses
toward the east and leave the door always standing open
that their Messiah may enter when he comes. During the
years 1891, 1892 and 1893, a three years' drouth had destroy
ed their crops, dried up their water, cut off their supply of
seeds, and killed great numbers of their cattle. Truly it
was the time of their greatest suffering, and surely Mocte
zuma would now come to their rescue; and it was enough to
move the heart of the most obdurate infidel, to see the people.

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 289

ascending- just before sunrise to the top of the surrounding-
hills and look anxiously toward the rising- sun for Moctezu-
ma, until disappointment usurped the place of hope, and
one by one, each returned patiently to his house, but to
hope on.

Christianity, it is said, dates back from the return of
the Hellenist Jews and proselytes from "Egypt and the
parts of Libya about Cyrene," who heard St. Peter preach
on the day of Pentecost.

It is well known that, in the history of the early church,
no city is more famous than Alexandria. From that city
came Apollos ; there, too, Mark, the evangelist, is said to
have preached ; and from it Pantemusas was sent as a mis
sionary to India ; in it also dwelt Clement, Athanasius and
Origin. Carthage and Hippo have given to the world the
names of Cyprian, Tertullian and Augustine. In the fifth
century there were 560 Bishoprics in North Africa. The
Coptic church in Egypt, and its daughter church in Abys
sinia which still survive, though in corrupted state, while of
the ancient North' African church, not a vestige, it is said,
remains, being wholly swept away by Mohammedism in the
seventh century.

May not the ancestors of the North American Indians
have dwelt in some of those regions of country in which the
gospel was preached by those ancient missionaries? and
also have been among those of the early Christians who fled
before the persecutions of the Turk and Tartar, and cross
ed over to this continent by way of Behring Strait, or the
fabled sunken continent Atlantis (if it ever existed), bring
ing with them the many Asiatic characteristics they possess
in their manners and customs and religious ceremonies, and
their traditional knowledge of the flood? But alas! upon
this we can but conjecture, there we can but begin and there
we have to end.

The belief of the ancient Choctaws in regard to the
eclipses of the sun was not more inconsistent, than that of
an}r portion of the human family, whose minds had never
been enlightened by the rays of spiritual light from the gos
pel of the Son of God. The Romans} the Celtics, the Asia
tics, the Finns of Europe, and, 110 doubt, Britons, too, all
had their views in regard to eclipses as absurd as the Choc-
taws. The Choctaws, as before stated, attributed an eclipse
of the sun to a black squirrel, whose eccentricities often led
it into mischief, and, among other things, that of trying- to
eat up the sun at different intervals. When thus inclined,
they believed, which was confirmed by long experience, that
the only effective means to prevent so fearful a catastrophe

• -'

290 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

befalling- the world as the'~blotting out of that indispensable
luminary, was to favor the little, black epicure with a first-
class scare; therefore, whenever he manifested an inclination
to indulge in a meal on the sun, every ingenuity was called
into requisition to give him a genuine fright that he would
be induced, at least, to postpone his meal on the sun at that
particular time and seek a lunch elsewhere. As soon, there
fore, as the sun began to draw its lunar veil over its face,
the cry was heard from every mouth from the Dan to the
Beersheba of their then wide extended territory, echo
ing from hill to dale, "Funi lusa hushi umpa! Funi lusa
hushi umpa," according to our phraseology, The black squir
rel is eating the sun! Then and there was heard a sound of
tumult by day in the Choctaw Nation for the space of an
hour or two, far exceeding that said to have been heard by
night in Belgium's Capital, and sufficient in the conglomera
tion of discordant tones terrific, if heard by the distant,
little, fastidious squirrel, to have made him lose forever
afterward all relish for a mess of suns for an early or late
dinner. The shouts of the women and children mingling
with the ringing of discordant bells as the vociferous pound
ing and beating of ear-splitting tin pans and cups mingling
in "wild confusion worse confounded," yet in sweet unison
with a first-class orchestra of yelping, howling, barking
dogs gratuitously thrown in by the innumerable and highly
excited curs, produced a din, which even a "Funi lusa," had
he heard it, could scarcely have endured even to have in
dulged in a nibble or two of the sun, though urged by the
demands of a week's fasting.

But during the wild scene the m^n were not idle specta
tors, or indifferent listeners. Each stood a few paces in
front of his cabin door, with no outward manifestation of
excitement whatever — so characteristic of the Indian war
rior — but with his trusty rifle in hand, which so oft had
proved a friend sincere in many hours of trial, which he
loaded and fired in rapid succession at the distant, devastat
ing squirrel, with the same coolness and calm deliberation
that he did when shooting at his game. More than once have
I witnessed the fearful yet novel scene. When it happened
to be the time of a total eclipse of the sun, a sufficient evi
dence that the little, black epicure meant business in regard
to having a square meal, though it took the whole sun to fur
nish it, -then indeed there were sounds of revelry and tumult
unsurpassed by any ever heard before, either in "Belgium"
or elsewhere. Then the women shrieked and redoubled
their efforts upon the tin p,ans, which, under the desperate
blows, strained every vocal organ to do its utmost and whole

HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 291

duty in loud response, while the excited children screamed
-and beat their tin cups, and the sympathetic dogs (whose
name was legion) barked and howled — all seemingly deter
mined not to fall the one behind other in their duty — since
the occasion demanded it ; while the warriors still stood, in
profound and meditative silence, but firm and undaunted, as
they quickly loaded and fired their rifles, each time taking-
deliberative aim, if perchance the last shot might prove the
•successful one ; then, as the moon's shadow began to move
from the disk of the sun, the joyful shout was heard above
the mighty din Funi-lusa-osh mahlatah ! The black squirrel
is frightened. But the din remained unabated until fhe sun
again appeared in its usual splendor, and all nature again
.assumed its harmonious course ; then quiet below again as
sumed its sway, while contentment and happiness resumed
their accustomed place in the hearts of the grateful Choc-
taws — grateful to the Great Spirit who had given them the
victory. But the scene of a total eclipse of the sun in the
•Choctaw Nation in those ancient years must be witness
ed to be justly comprehended by the lover of the romantic,
and heard by the highly sensitive ear to be fully appreciated
and enjoyed.

On the road leading from St. Stephens then a little town
in Alabama, near which was the home of the renowned Choc-
taw Chief Apushamata hahubi in 1812, to the city of Jackson,
Mississippi, stood the mound Nunih Waiyah erected by the
Choctaws in commemoration of their migration, as has been
previously stated, from a country far to the west to their
homes east of the Mississippi river, where they were first
known to the Europeans. I read an article published some
years ago in a newspaper, which stated that an ancient tra
dition of the Choctaws affirmed that they derived their
origin from Nunih Waiyah, their ancestors swarming from
the hole on the top as bees swarming from the hive in sum
mer, and thus was that part of the world peopled with Choc
taws. The Choctaws did not so state their origin to the
early missionaries of 1818. They always have claimed their
origin from a country far to the West, and the above men
tioned tradition with all its absurdities, so numerous in the
writings of the majority of those of the present age, who,
having nothing more, clothe their nominal Indian in myths
and hide him in impenetrable fogs, had its origin in" the
prolific brain of the writer, who assumes to be gifted with a
vivid imagination, even as his congenial fellow writers of the
present day when getting up a "send-off" upon the Indians;
and who imagine themselves wiser than even seven men who
can render a reason, though they have advanced no further

292 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.

in Indian lore than the widely circulated ' hear-say '&
elementary spelling-book; and, having- learned all there is to-
be known in that branch of historical information, they feel
themselves incapable of receiving- any further instruction
in regard to the North American Indian characteristics,,
from any source whatever, yet they are lacking in one very
essential thing; i. e. Not to